


Office Politics

by gshaldgstjowuebjtdjyadbkdihoifj2



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies With Benefits, F/M, Politics, Secretary of State!Kylo, They fight a lot, Treasury Secretary!Rey, White House
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-03-27 22:14:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 46,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13890234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gshaldgstjowuebjtdjyadbkdihoifj2/pseuds/gshaldgstjowuebjtdjyadbkdihoifj2
Summary: Jessika Pava felt awfully lost. She had been working as Secretary Kenobi’s personal assistant for a week, and she was already screwing up. In her defence, it was not her fault in the slightest. It was Miss Kenobi’s fault for referring to her arch-enemy, Secretary Ren, by at least seven-thousand five-hundred and thirty-six different names in her schedules, contacts, and the passive-aggressive post-it-notes Jessika kept finding all around the White House.Treasury Secretary Rey Kenobi and Secretary of State Kylo Ren were the root and stem of all chaos in the Holdo administration. They fought on the daily, never agreed on political issues, bickered about minor nuisances, and yelled at each other on the Congress floor. How these two had even been given positions within the same administration was truly beyond Jessika’s comprehension.





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is definitely a random AU absolutely no one asked for, but hopefully you'll like it anyway :)

Jessika Pava felt awfully lost. She had been working as Miss Kenobi’s personal assistant for a week, and she was already screwing up. In her defence, it was not her fault in the slightest. It was Miss Kenobi’s fault for referring to her arch-enemy, Secretary Ren, by at least seven-thousand-five-hundred and thirty-six different names in her schedules, contacts, and the passive-aggressive post-it-notes Jessika kept finding all around the White House. 

Treasury Secretary Rey Kenobi and Secretary of State Kylo Ren were the root and stem of all chaos in the Holdo administration. They fought on the daily, never agreed on political issues, bickered about minor nuisances, and yelled at each other on the congress floor. How these two had even been given positions within the same administration was beyond Jessika’s comprehension. 

Jessika was frantically attempting to organise Secretary Kenobi’s schedule for the day, as she noticed who she could only assume to be Secretary Ren’s assistant walking past the Treasury Secretary's office. She immediately leapt up from her seat and ran after the man. The hallways were empty at this hour in the morning.

“Excuse me!” Jessika squeaked after the man who stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her. “Are you Secretary Ren’s assistant?” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” The man said with a small polite smile. He was dark haired, brown eyed, and not particularly tall. He looked very friendly and something about him immediately made Jessika feel at ease. The word was that he was quite the troublemaker, however. Apparently, he had worked as an army pilot in his youth. Jessika did not find that difficult to believe. 

“Umm…” Jessika thought about her next words as she quickly walked to the man who was now facing her. “I’m Secretary Kenobi’s new assistant, Jessika Pava.” She offered her hand to the man. 

“Nice to meet you, Miss Pava.” The man said with a broad smile, taking her hand. “I’m Poe. Poe Dameron.” 

“Yes, yes, Mr Dameron.” Jessika collected her thoughts and cleared her throat. “I know this might sound a tad… peculiar, but do you know the exact nature of Secretary Kenobi and Secretary Ren’s relationship? I’ve spent the last three days changing the names of cabinet meetings from, and I quote, ‘Fight Secretary Asshole’ to a simple ‘Cabinet meeting’. It is most confusing to me.” 

Poe Dameron chuckled good-naturedly. “I understand, Jessika. It’s all a bit confusing. Your predecessor resigned because he couldn’t stand listening to their constant bickering. I'm sometimes overwhelmed by the situation, too.” 

Jessika felt better knowing that she was not alone in her dismay. However, Poe Dameron’s next words gave her no further confidence. 

“As to the nature of their relationship, I have no idea.” Dameron said. “They fight one moment, but next second all is well with the world. Then they fight again. And then you find out that they’ve planned going for drinks next Friday after work.” Dameron shrugged. “Honestly, at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them went missing and it turned out the other killed them and hid the body in the sewer. I also wouldn’t be surprised, if they got engaged this week. Nothing about them can surprise me anymore.” 

“I doubt they’re getting engaged anytime soon.” Jessika said. “Secretary Kenobi’s contacts name Secretary Ren as, and once again I quote, ‘Fucking bullshit piece of fucking shit making my fucking life fucking shit as if this fucking dip-shit has no better fucking shit to fucking do’.” 

Dameron laughed again, the joyful sound echoing in the relatively empty hallway. “Ren’s contacts have Rey under the name ‘Sweetheart’. I’m not sure if he calls her that because he likes her or because he wants to annoy her, either way we’re better off not looking too deep into it.” 

Jessika took a while to take in the new information. “Yes, I do think you’re right. I’ll just do my job and attempt to not get involved in whatever the two of them have going on.” 

“That is the best chance you have of ever getting out of here without going insane.” Mr. Dameron said with a devious smile. “However, if you ever change your mind and feel like getting involved…” 

“Dameron!” Secretary Ren’s low voice echoed down the hallway. Jessika couldn’t help but flinch as the tall man strode towards them. He was dressed entirely in black; his suit was black, his hair was black, his shirt and tie were also black. 

“Good morning, Ren.” Dameron said with a friendly smile. “May I introduce you to Jessika Pava?” He said, gesturing towards the woman.

Jessika extended her hand to the intimidating man. To her surprise, he took it. “I’m Jessika Pava. It’s nice to meet you, Sir.” 

“Kylo Ren, Secretary of State.” He introduced himself although he already knew she knew who he was. 

“Miss Pava is Secretary Kenobi’s new personal assistant.” Dameron chimed in. The tall man let go of Jessika’s hand and examined her from head to toe with his gaze. Jessika felt very uncomfortable under such intense scrutiny. 

But Secretary Ren simply shrugged. “How has Secretary Sweetheart been treating you so far?” 

“Secretary Kenobi has been very kind to me and the rest of the staff seems to love her, so I think everything will be alright.” Jessika said, half to convince Mr. Ren and half to convince herself. 

Ren did not reply immediately. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence it became obvious Ren would not reply at all. 

“Jessika!” A woman’s chipper voice rang through the air, and Jessika turned around to face her employer who had popped her head out of the office. She had a radiant smile on her face as she made her way towards the trio. She was wearing a pair of black high-heels but apart from that she simply wore a light grey attire. Did these politicians not know how to wear colour? The woman reached them in a few seconds. “Poe! Good morning to you.” 

“Good morning, Secretary Kenobi.” Dameron said with a smile, though there was a slight edge in his voice Jessika could not quite pinpoint. 

That’s when Secretary Kenobi turned to face Secretary Ren. Neither of them spoke for a few heartbeats and Jessika sent a nervous glance in Dameron’s direction simply to find the man trying to hide his grin by staring at the floor. 

“Ren.” Secretary Kenobi finally acknowledged the man. Her voice wasn’t antagonistic, per se, but it was considerably less friendly than it had been earlier. “How is your morning going?” 

“Every moment is better than the one following it.” Secretary Ren retorted with no emotion in his voice. “How are you, Kenobi?” 

“Quite unwell, thank you.” She snapped. “I heard that your plan to increase military spending is gaining popularity among Senate Republicans.” 

“Let me guess, you don’t like it.” Secretary Ren said coolly. It was as if this were not the first time the two of them had disagreed. 

“It will add to the deficit!” Secretary Kenobi squeaked. “Not only that, but the military budget is already enough to maintain our current defence forces.” 

“Is this truly what you wish to discuss at this hour?” Secretary Ren sighed. “What is it you’re actually mad at me about?” He stared directly into Miss Kenobi’s eyes, demanding her to explain herself. 

The small woman straightened herself. “You’ve moved the coffee machine again. It is now exactly ten feet closer to your office than it is to mine. I thought we discussed this.” 

“We did, and we agreed on nothing.” Ren said, sounding almost bored. “You can go complain to the President if you so wish, however, let me remind you that the last time you did, she did not care one bit.” 

Secretary Kenobi looked like she was on the cusp of committing first degree murder. Jessika could not fathom how her boss could get so worked up over such a minor thing. Who cared about ten feet? 

“I find this to be a blatant show of disrespect.” The brunette woman spoke slowly. “And this is not an isolated incident; there is a pattern.” 

“A blatant show of disrespect?” Ren spoke equally slowly. “Yes. It is. However, you are not in a position to complain. Must I remind you of the memos you have taken the liberty of leaving on the windshield of my car?” 

“Oh, so this is about the memos?” Secretary Kenobi laughed, unamused. “Must I remind you of the fact that you refuse to speak to me or my staff when it comes to any and every issue under the sun? You never listen to me and then we have to duke it out on the Congress floor! It is humiliating!” 

“You mean humiliating like the post-it-notes you leave everywhere informing everyone how much of an asshole I am?” Ren’s voice begun to grow louder. 

“Yes, I mean exactly that kind of humiliating!” Secretary Kenobi spat at the Secretary of State who was now positively fuming. 

“Well, how about you at least attempt to contact me about those issues in the first place? Come to my office? Send an email?!” 

“I do all those things and more but you refuse take them into consideration!” Kenobi screamed. 

“Maybe you should tell me something worth taking into consideration!” Secretary Ren growled. 

At that remark, Secretary Kenobi turned on her heels and, for lack of a better word, charged into her office, the door slamming shut behind her. Before door had even properly closed, Secretary Ren had already barged down the hallway and into his own office. 

Jessika was horrified. She turned to look at Dameron who was merely smirking, completely relaxed. 

“Is it always like this?” She said, terrified for her life. 

“Oh, it gets better.” Dameron said with a wide smile. 

\------

A few hours after the commotion in the hallway, Rey Kenobi was at her desk reading through some notes she had made of what she wished to discuss later that day in a meeting. She could already tell which parts Ren and the rest of the Republicans would disagree with. Not that it mattered. Not that anything about that smug disrespectful asshole mattered to her at all. At all. He always ruined everything; he never voted for anything she wished would pass, debated her every step of the way, and filibustered like there was no tomorrow. Not that she did anything less for him. But that didn’t matter. He did not matter. 

But military spending mattered. How had he even been able to come up with such an idiotic, unnecessary plan? The military was large enough as it was, and there was no need to fund it any more than they already did. The money could be used on something much more useful like Holdocare or infrastructure. 

Maybe she should confront him about this, again. They should talk about it like adults before the actual meeting where other people would be present as well. They could not start yelling at each other again as if they were insulant children, not when they were supposed to be proper and respectable. Before Rey could dissuade herself to do otherwise, she was up and out the door and on her way to Kylo Ren’s office. 

She knocked on the door with excessive force and as Poe Dameron opened it, his eyes almost bulged out of his head at the sight of her. He found it hard to believe she was actually there. He didn’t know quite why he found it hard to believe; it wasn’t like she never showed up at the door. She showed up quite often actually. Just in the past week or so she had visited the Secretary of State at least five times. 

“Is Secretary Ren present?” Rey asked respectfully without a speck of disdain in her voice. It was her professional tone, the one she reverted to when she did not want anyone deciphering her mood or thoughts.

“Yes, he is. He is in his office. Should I warn him…?” Dameron said, only semi-seriously. However, he stepped out of her way, letting her into the staff’s area. Most of them were there already, and looked quite worried about the woman’s sudden appearance. This could not be good.

“No need.” Rey said as she marched to the Secretary of State’s door and knocked. After a few seconds, Ren opened the door and immediately let Rey in without even so much as a word. He wasn’t surprised she was there. In all honesty, he had been expecting for her to show up a lot sooner. In the past hour or so, he had checked the time more often than he cared to admit, just to see how long she’d wait before coming to him again.

Ren’s office was much the same as Rey’s except it was always darker. Sun shone into Rey’s room most of the time, but it never quite reached Ren’s. Also, he had pulled his curtains over the windows so even less light could make it in. Or maybe it was to hide from anyone and everyone while he worked on his no doubt evil masterplans. 

“What is it you want this time?” Ren asked. “Or is it the usual visit?” 

Rey scoffed. “I wanted to discuss the military budget before the meeting.”

“I see.” Ren said and sat down in his chair. “Pity.” 

Despite her best attempts not to feel anything at his remarks, Rey still felt her heartbeat pick up as she looked at the man in front of her. “The plan is stupid.” She said quickly as she sat down across the desk from Ren.

“So you’ve told me.” Kylo Ren sighed, running his hand across his face, leaving it slightly redder than it was before. “And?” 

“I want to know why you think it’s a good plan.” She said. Honestly, she simply wished to scream at him until he changed his mind, but by now she knew that was never going to work. He would stop listening the second she’d start preaching about what she thought was wrong with his plan. Just as she’d stop listening to him as soon as he’d claim otherwise. 

“It will increase the amount of respect the global community has for our nation.” He said simply. She couldn’t believe he truly believed that. "And the Secretary of Defence is working with me on this plan. He thinks it's a good idea."

“Our army is already the largest in the world!” She pointed out. "And the Secretary Hux is a psychopath; don't think I care what he thinks."

“People think President Holdo is a soft and incompetent leader.” He pointed out. He agreed, however, with Rey's evaluation of Hux. The man was as twisted as a corkscrew. 

“She isn’t.” Rey defended Holdo. Holdo was a good leader; strict yet gentle, and competent beyond a shadow of a doubt.

However, Ren was not impressed. “But people think she is. It doesn’t matter what she is, it only matters how others perceive her.” 

“They think so because she’s a woman.” Rey sighed. 

“Yes.” Ren confirmed her statement. “But if she increased our military spending, she could show the world that she isn’t the soft and gentle mother-figure they think of her as.” 

Rey scoffed at Ren. “You’re trying to intimidate the world.” 

“I’m trying to get them to respect her.” He corrected her. He was being more patient than usually although Rey knew that could change at any second. One wrong word and he’d be up in arms, one wrong move and he’d unleash his wrath.

“By making them fear her, which is not the same as respecting her.” She pointed out. 

“They work much the same.” Ren stated. 

“I understand.” Rey admitted, and she did. “However, I still think it’s not the right course of action.” She got up from her chair and headed for the door. 

“Wait.” Ren said, getting up from his seat, and walking to stand in front of her. “What do you think is the right course of action, then?” He usually didn’t care what she thought, but maybe she had a better idea. Unlikely, yet possible.

“Diplomacy.” Rey said immediately. “Making sure we have friends and allies out there in the world. That is the only way to secure our safety. We can’t terrify everyone into obeying us, we must set a good example as the world’s leading democracy. We must show them we’re the good guys, that we’re the way forward.” 

“It is hard to make friends when you’re faced with constant disrespect from all those who surround you.” Ren pointed out. “The world is laughing at us, Rey. We need to show them our full capabilities.” 

“By threatening them?” She asked incredulously. “Then they will only laugh behind our back.” 

“The end result remains the same.” He told her. “Isn’t that what matters?” 

“I don’t know.” Rey admitted. “It would matter to me if you moved the coffee machine closer to my office but only because I was pointing a gun at your head. A symbolic gesture obtained through intimidation…” 

“Symbolism doesn’t matter when it comes to protecting the lives of our citizens.” Ren said. 

“But the military is already big enough to protect them.” Rey sighed. 

“Perhaps for now.” Ren admitted. “But the tables turn quickly.” 

Rey couldn’t quite hold back a chuckle. “They don’t turn that quickly.” As soon as the chuckle left her lips, she knew she had made a mistake.

“Your attitude only exemplifies your unwillingness to meaningful action.” Ren said, his voice colder than before. “You know the world could turn against us at any moment, and it doesn’t matter how big our army is if it’s not big enough to beat them all!” 

“Which is exactly why we need friends and allies!” Rey let her voice grow louder. She knew she should not be yelling yet she couldn’t bring herself not to.

“You said it yourself; our army is the biggest in the world.” Ren said, raking his hand through his hair. “Why would someone ally themselves with us if not for that? They want to take advantage of us, not to help us.” 

“Alliances go both ways.” Rey reminded him. 

“Yes, until they don’t.” He simply said and pointed one finger at her. “You are too trusting.” 

“It is a risk I am willing to take.” She said. 

“I don’t take risks.” He replied. 

“Then why do you get out of bed?” She asked and stormed out of his office, leaving him before she could see him throw a temper tantrum. Those weren’t uncommon for him. Man-child, Rey thought as she almost ran down the hallway and back to her office. Then slipped into the restroom. And there she sat until she could feel her anger starting to dissipate.


	2. Si vis pacem, para bellum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Working for an important politician isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, Jessika decided as she attempted to organize Secretary Kenobi’s desk to the best of her abilities. How this renowned political figure could be so messy was beyond her. Not only was she as messy as they come, she was also always almost late. She was on time, don’t worry, but only barely. And then there was the ordeal with Secretary Ren… No matter how confusing the political matters got, the two Secretaries managed to make all of it seem simple just by bitching at each other constantly.

The sun was high in the opaque blue sky, and birds sang sweet songs in trees outside the window, and Kylo felt as if someone was trying to escape from inside his skull by breaking a hole into it with a cone drill. Truth be told, he had never been a morning person, but a morning this abominable was unprecedented even by his standards. The scent of liquor was still thick in the air, hanging around as a judgemental reminder of the previous night’s unpleasant activities. Kylo swore under his breath as he turned to face the clock he could hear ticking on the bedside table; 10:34 AM. It was Sunday. His one day off. His throat ached awfully, and yet somehow he willed himself to sit up and take a look at his surroundings. 

Home? No. Rey’s apartment. Guest room. He could tell by how awful the mess was. The place was a manifest of confusion and chaos. There were papers and trash, haphazardly scattered on the floor. Books lay around, half-read. Sunlight was breaking in through the blinders, making Kylo’s headache even more pronounced. Empty and almost empty glasses and bottles of whiskey sat on almost every horizontal surface he could lay his stinging eyes on. To make matters worse, there was a petite brunette woman standing by the door. Well, if it wasn’t the devil herself. Kylo fought his urge to groan, as he closed his eyes and wished for a swift death. His life was truly brilliant. 

“How did I get here?” Kylo croaked, running a clammy hand through his sweaty hair. He couldn’t help but cringe at how much speaking hurt, and his voice was truly awful. How anyone could understand a word he attempted to crow, he did not know. 

“You showed up a little past midnight, and demanded a place to sleep. Apparently everything isn’t going well on the home front.” Rey said, taking a sip from a glass in her hand. It was obviously whiskey. Oh, how Kylo could also use a drink right about now. “We had a few drinks and you passed out. You’re really out of practice, Secretary Ren.” Her emphasis on the last two words made Kylo’s stomach churn. 

“You’ve clearly not overcome your alcoholism, Sweetheart.” He spat back at her with all the spite he could muster in his unfortunate state. Still, Rey had the balls to giggle. Had they been on Capitol Hill, she would have been hurt by his remark. She would have yelled back at him, insulted him, and run away from him. Now she simply stood in the doorway grinning at his misery. The image made Kylo want to be sick.

“It is a staple feature of my family.” She said, downing the last of what remained of her drink. “Anyway, I have a few friends of mine from the Senate who are coming over for brunch so you had better clean yourself up or get out the door.” 

“Oh, yes! Brunch with Democratic Senators who most likely wish I was dead.” He said with a fake smile plastered on his face. “You weren’t in the Senate a long time, though. How old were you when you got elected? Twenty-five or twenty-six?”

“I worked my way up the ladder pretty fast. I was politically active even in my early teens. Thought it would be less messy than it actually is. You got into politics because of family pressure, didn’t you?” Rey said with a smile in her voice. “Although you don’t seem to take after your mother, much.”

With a sigh, Kylo opened his eyes again to see that Rey had moved closer to stand by the foot of the bed. “Yes, I know.” He agreed, slightly awkwardly. No point in arguing against reality. His mother had been a Democratic Senator and a chief political advisor to multiple presidents before retiring. 

“Last night you said your mother recommended me to Holdo during her campaign.” Rey changed the subject. “I was surprised but very flattered to hear that. I needed all the help I could get.” She had been quite stuck with her political career until Holdo had reached out to her. She hadn’t even been sure she’d be re-elected the next time she’d run. 

Kylo scrambled out of bed. This was not a subject he wished to pursue. “Holdo obviously did not take my mother’s advice too seriously. After all, she employed me as well.” He croaked. Where the hell was his other sock?

But Rey simply responded with her trademark chuckle. “Yes, I’m sure that came as a surprise to your mother. It came as a surprise to everyone.”

“Well, I didn’t know she’d have this obsession with making sure party lines would not determine who could or could not work for her.” Kylo sighed. No one had expected Holdo to offer him his position. No one had even dreamt that she’d employ Hux. They definitely did not see eye to eye. If the president had had any sense about her what so ever, she would have never employed either of them. 

“She thinks you’re competent.” Rey sighed as she sat onto the bed next to Kylo. “Unbelievable woman! She thinks you’re competent and that you’re a ‘balancing force’ on the rest of us. She doesn’t want to piss off all the Republicans in this country, I think.” 

“That is a smart move on her part.” Kylo said as he attempted to stand up but quickly decided against it. “She wants to be re-elected.” 

“I wonder who would have the audacity to run against her…” Rey said, flopping onto her back. 

Kylo froze. He had been still before but now he hardly breathed. “I think I know a few people who would.” 

“Snoke?” Rey asked, turning to take a look at the man who was still sitting next to her.

“Yeah.” 

"Do you think he could win?" 

"Yeah."

—— four days later---

Working for an important politician isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, Jessika decided as she attempted to organise Secretary Kenobi’s desk to the best of her abilities. How this renowned political figure could be so messy was beyond her. Not only was she as messy as they come, she was also always almost late. She was on time, don’t worry, but only barely. And then there was the ordeal with Secretary Ren… No matter how confusing the political matters got, the two Secretaries managed to make all of it seem simple just by bitching at each other constantly. The coffee machine was in the wrong spot, the other parked their car in an inherently offensive matter, Kenobi’s breathing was too loud, Ren had a habit of huffing and puffing and sighing when he wasn’t talking…Anything! Everything was an issue, everything had to be fought over. 

Despite spending most of her day in Secretary Kenobi’s company, Jessika had hardly had an opportunity to chat with the woman. And even if she had had the chance, she wouldn’t have had the balls to ask Miss Kenobi about the tall man dressed in black. The rumours surrounding the two, however…well, everyone seemed to have their own theory and those theories changed on the daily. Poe Dameron believed the two had once been married and were now divorced. A member of Rey Kenobi’s staff, Finn, believed that Secretary Kenobi was planning Ren’s murder. A congresswoman, Rose, once claimed that the two had been spotted making out in a bar in New York. Jessika did not know who to believe and thus chose to believe everyone. At least to a certain degree.

Despite people’s differing beliefs surrounding the disastrous duo, one thing was unanimously agreed upon; unless you wished to be dead, never attempt to break off a fight of theirs. Apparently, Poe had once attempted this and had ended up as the sole focus of both of their wrath. 

Just as Jessika was almost done organising the desk, a very angry Kylo Ren barged into the office with a terrified looking Finn scurrying in right behind him.

“Where is she?” Secretary Ren demanded from Jessika. The man was absolutely livid. What on Earth had Kenobi done this time? 

“She isn’t here!” Finn exclaimed from behind the considerably taller man. 

“I didn’t ask if she was here, I asked where she was…” He asked, suddenly almost terrifyingly calm and collected. He slowly walked to the desk. 

Jessika swallowed. “Secretary Kenobi is currently in a meeting with the president…in the Oval Office.” 

Ren nodded slowly. “Would you tell her, once she returns, that if she ever brings raw fish into my office ever again, it had better be in the form of sushi or otherwise I will sell both her kidneys on the dark web?” 

“May I ask why she would ever bring fish into your office?” Jessika blurted before she could convince herself not to ask. 

“Because apparently I have all the charms of a dead fish and she wishes I spent more time with the likes of me so I would have more sympathy for what she has to go through.” Secretary Ren snapped at the assistant. “Also, you might want to start telling her meetings start five minutes before they actually do. Have you no idea how much the rest of us have to suffer when she runs in at the last second? And why are you not with her, anyway?” 

“The president requested I stay behind…” Jessika begun to explain. 

“Never mind, I don’t care.” Secretary Ren said with such disdain etched in his voice Jessika felt as if she were a dead fish. “Just tell your employer that she can expect retaliation unless she cleans up her act.” And with those words the Secretary of State was out of the room leaving only a shocked Jessika and a befuddled Finn behind. 

After a while of silence, Finn spoke up. “Well, at least we know she wasn’t wrong.” 

“What do you mean?” Jessika asked, not quite catching his meaning. 

“He indeed has all the charms of a dead fish.” 

——

“…but Madam President, this is not a viable option.” Rey attempted to brief the woman who was actively refusing to listen to her. 

“We need this, Miss Kenobi.” Holdo said and it was clear she would not take no for an answer. 

“But it is impossible!” Rey couldn’t help but feel like the president was intentionally ignoring every word that came out of her mouth. 

“If I may join you, ladies.” The Attorney General’s voice came from the door. Rey turned to face her. 

“Maz, thank you so much for coming on such a short notice!” Holdo greeted the shorter woman. 

“I heard of your demands, Holdo.” Attorney General Maz Kanata spoke as she walked properly into the office and the door was shut behind her. “But you do realize that the Senate is responsible for passing the budget, don’t you?” 

“Of course I know the Senate is responsible!” Holdo exclaimed. “But if only I could get them to pass the plan a bit faster, and with my demands in mind, we could make so much more progress before I must start campaigning again. Maz, you know how much time and energy running for office takes. We have no time to lose.” 

Maz Kanata smiled gently at the president. “That is not how democracy works.” 

I couldn’t help but feel happy Maz was here. While the president was a good leader and a responsible head of state, she had a tendency of being a bit impulsive at times. Maz could always speak sense into her. She was always so practical whereas Holdo could be idealistic. 

“We can bring your concerns to the Senators’ attention, but we cannot force them to vote for this budget plan.” Rey spoke. “I know some of the Republican Senators will not vote for a plan which does not increase our military funding.” 

“‘Si vis pacem, para bellum’.” Holdo almost snorted. “If you want peace, prepare for war.” 

“Not a bad idea.” Maz Kanata said which earner her a few weird glances from the two other women in the room. “The two of you have a habit of seeing certain issues from your own perspectives only. Listen to those who disagree with you. Who knows, you might be wrong and they might be right.” 

“There is also the possibility that you are right and they are wrong.” Rey was quick to add. 

“Sometimes what is right and what is wrong simply depends on what one considers important.” Maz spoke patiently.

“There are right and wrong answers, Maz.” Rey pointed out. “Not everyone can be right.” 

“That is true.” Maz admitted, turning to face Rey. “But everyone can be wrong.” 

Holdo didn’t seem impressed by the path the conversation was going down. “So what you are telling me is that I should write to Congress and inform them of my wishes to add funding to ensure inexpensive healthcare to the public. And that I should allow them to increase military spending to insure that the plan is passed.” 

“No.” Rey said. 

“Maybe.” Maz said. 

“I’ll do it.” President Holdo decided. “You may get back to…whatever it is you were doing before I called you here. Thank you.” 

As the two women left the Oval Office, Rey turned to the Attorney General. “I hope you understand what you just got the president to do.” 

“I understand what the president did, but she did so of her own free will.” Maz Kanata corrected her. 

“This will add to the deficit.” Rey said, displeased, and Maz couldn’t help but laugh at the younger woman. 

“Darling, everything adds to the deficit.” 

——

Secretary Kenobi returned to her office to find her entire staff and Poe Dameron in the room. They were all looking mortified, though no one spoke when she first entered. Jessika was holding a folder in her hands, but still couldn’t keep her hands still, and her fingers were fidgeting. Finn was unable to look Rey in the eyes, and instead kept staring at the ceiling as if he had never seen one before. A few other staff members were standing behind them, seemingly uncertain of why they still worked for Secretary Kenobi, and Poe Dameron was standing next to Finn, looking quite relaxed, though his signature smile was gone. 

“What is this?” Secretary Kenobi asked, gesturing to…whatever this was.

Silence continued for a few seconds more, until Jessika finally found the courage to speak out. “While you were gone… um… Secretary Ren visited and he was quite aggravated.” 

“He said he wanted you to bring him sushi next time you went to his office.” Finn continued. 

“And from what I have heard, he also threatened to sell your kidneys online.” Dameron added. 

“Which is technically murder.” Finn said quickly. 

Secretary Kenobi stared at her employees for a while before cracking them the brightest smile they had seen on her face in a long time. Before they could ask her what the matter was, she was already out the door and only her laughter could be heard echoing down the hallways of the West Wing. 

Jessika Pava felt awfully lost. What on Earth was wrong with these politicians?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for reading, subscribing, leaving kudos, and commenting <3 It makes me so happy!
> 
> If you have any suggestions for the story going forwards, any ideas of what you would like to read, or if you're just feeling particularly nice today, leave a comment and let me know what's on your mind! 
> 
> XOXO


	3. Common knowledge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was going to resign. No! Not only was she going to resign, she was going to change her name, move to Canada, and never interact with another human being ever again. Ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone for their wonderful comments and for taking the time to read <3  
> XOXO

She did not know wether she should be mad at the man or amused. 

“You told them what?!” Rey couldn’t help but laugh as she walked along the streets of Washington D.C. while on the phone with Kylo Ren. “Oh, they’re going to think I am finally losing it!” She chuckled as she dodged a car which had clearly not paid attention to the traffic lights. “Yes, yes, I’ll be right there; I’m almost at the door already. Are you already there?” 

Rey made her way to the small sushi restaurant where the Secretary of State was already waiting very impatiently. His bulky frame looked completely out of place in the delicate elegant setting. It almost made Rey laugh, and she probably would have laughed if it weren’t for the fact that this man had just made her look like a complete lunatic in front of her staff. 

“Well, you definitely took your time.” Ren muttered as Rey sat across the small table from him. “I was worried you wouldn’t show up.”

“I’m sorry; Holdo called me to a meeting quite suddenly and I had to go.” She explained. “It was about the new budget plan we’re working on. The Attorney General was there, as well.” 

“Was Hux there, too?” Ren asked, his voice slightly tense. Why was he the only one not called to these meetings. 

But Rey only shook her head. “No, he wasn’t.” Then she stopped to think. “Now that I think about it, I can’t even remember the last time I saw Hux… Can you?” 

“Too recently, that’s for sure.” Ren scoffed, but shook his head. “Ready to order?” 

“I was born ready.” she laughed. 

After they had placed their order, Rey couldn’t help but ask Ren about his encounter with her staff earlier. “You do realise that they already think we’re crazy, don’t you?” 

“Of course.” He replied. “But I simply told them something I could absolutely see you doing. Although, maybe the fish was slight overkill.” 

“You don’t say…” Rey shook her head. This man was unbelievable. The whole situation was absurd. “Have you -“ she started, but her sentence was interrupted when the waiter brought them their sushi. They quickly thanked him for the food, and then he was gone, but Rey had already forgotten what she had wanted to say before he came. 

“Have I what?” Ren asked, stuffing the first piece of sushi in his mouth. 

“Have you…” Rey quickly tried to think something up. “…ever wondered what your staff does when you’re not there?” 

Ren shrugged. “They do their job.” 

“Yeah, but people talk.” Rey pointed out. “Have you ever wondered what about?” 

Ren simply shook his head. “No. It isn’t my concern what they talk about when I’m not there. If it something that they need to bring to my attention, then I can trust them to do so. Why?” 

“I just thought that we definitely give them something to talk about.” Rey said and put another piece of sushi in her mouth. “I’m sure they talk.” 

“As long as what they say has no effect on their work or our political lives, at least in my opinion, they can say whatever they want.” Ren responded. “They already think we’re insane.” 

So they ate the remainder of their meal in companionable silence, and afterwards, took a taxi to Kylo Ren’s place. 

— — 

She was going to resign. No! Not only was she going to resign, she was going to change her name, move to Canada, and never interact with another human being ever again. Ever. 

“I am so sorry, but Secretary Kenobi isn’t here at the moment.” Jessika told the eighth called of the day. “No, I am not aware of when she is coming to work today, but I’ll be sure to let her know you attempted to contact her. What was your name, again?” 

Jessika added the name Luke Skywalker to her list of people Kenobi was going to call the second she would enter the White House. Luke Skywalker? Important people were looking for the woman and she was nowhere to be found! Where was she? Finally, after a good minute or two of contemplation, Jessika picked up the phone and dialled Rey Kenobi’s personal number. She knew she shouldn’t call that number unless there was an emergency, but this was an emergency in her books. 

It took the other woman way too long to answer. Jessika was already prepared to give up when she finally picked up. 

“Rey Kenobi, speaking.” 

“Miss Kenobi, where are you? Why aren’t you at work? You have missed so many important calls already! Even the VP’s assistant has come looking for you while you’ve been gone!” Jessika fumed. 

“Oh, shit! Oh, fuck…I overslept… Oh, no no no no” 

“Rey, who are you talking to?” A man’s voice got picked up by the phone, and Jessika almost fainted when she could finally connect the voice with the name. 

“It’s Jessika; I’m late for work. Do you have work?” 

“Oh fucking hell… I must be late, too.” 

“I’ll be right there, Jessika, just…give me a minute.” And then she hung up.

“Of course, of course.” Jessika breathed out through her nose, in through her mouth, out through her nose, and so on and so forth. Okay… So, they were sleeping together. Now what will you do with this information? Keep it to yourself! It is nobody’s business but their own …maybe she could accidentally tell someone. It wouldn’t be illegal or anything. No! She would keep it to herself, resign, move to Canada, and write a book called One Million Reasons Not To Work With Politicians. 

“Good morning, Jess!” Dameron’s voice called from the hallway. 

And just like that she was on her feet and her feet were carrying her to the door. “Poe!” She squealed. 

“What?” 

“Come in here, now.” She ordered him and despite looking a bit worried he followed her instructions. 

“What is it, Jessika? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.” Poe asked. 

Jessika weighed her options one last time before finally making up her mind. “Poe, I am going to tell you something scandalous but you are going to have to keep it to yourself. If you don’t, Poe, I swear I will kill you.” 

“Consider my lips sealed.” 

“They’re sleeping together.” Jessika blurted out unceremoniously. 

“Who are sleeping together?” Poe was caught off guard. 

“They are! Poe, they are!” She was so close to screaming. 

“Who’s they?” Poe asked. The poor man looked completely clueless. 

“Secretary Kenobi and Secretary Ren.” She whispered. “They are sleeping together.” 

Poe’s eyes widened. “No way… Did you..? You know.” And then he made a weird face and a shrugging motion. 

“Did I what?” Now it was Jessika’s turn to be clueless. 

“Did you, like, catch them doing it?” He looked mortified at the thought, and Jessika felt slightly dirty just thinking about it. 

“Catch who doing what?” Finn’s voice alerted them to his presence. “You two are looking traumatised. What has happened?” 

“You can tell him.” Poe gestures at Finn while looking Jessika in the eyes. “He’ll not stop asking if you don’t.” 

Jessika turned to face the dark man. “Promise you will not tell anyone I told you this.” 

“I promise.” Finn said, taking a few steps closer. 

Jessika swallowed. “Kylo Ren and Rey Kenobi are having an affair.” 

“And?” Finn gestured her to go on. 

“They’re sleeping together.” Poe clarifies. 

“I know what having an affair means, Poe.” Finn says, before turning back to Jessika. “You were saying?” 

“They are having an affair!” She whisper-yelled at the man. 

Finn shrugs. “Well, I thought that was fairly obvious.” Jessika and Poe look at him like he’s grown a new head. “I mean, you’d have to be wilfully ignoring all the evidence to miss it. I thought it was common knowledge by now.” 

“What is common knowledge by now?” Rey Kenobi’s voice breaks their conversation. 

“Um… that…” Jessika begins but can’t think of anything smart to say. 

“Jessika dyes her hair!” Poe chimes in. “That… Jessika dyes her hair.” 

The Treasury Secretary seems to fall for this. “Oh… Well, it looks very natural. Definitely fooled me.” 

“Thank you.” Jessika replies. “Oh! And there are a lot of calls for you to return. Eight, to be exact.” 

“Thank you so much, Jessika, I’ll get to it.” Secretary Kenobi smiles before walking past the trio and into her office. 

“I dye my hair?” Jessika lashed out at Poe. “I dye my hair? Is that the best you could come up with?” 

“What would you have preferred?” the man defended himself. “That I come out as gay?”

“Are you gay?” She challenged him. 

“Yes.” He confirmed it. 

“Then I would have preferred it.” She vented. 

Finn couldn’t help but start chuckling. He shook his head and smiled to himself while looking away from the fighting assistants. 

“What?!” Jessika snapped at him. What could possibly be so funny about this? 

“It’s just…” Finn said, turning his head to face his coworkers. “you two are starting to sound a lot like Rey and Kylo Ren.”

— —

Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker, the political activist based in Philadelphia? The Luke Skywalker had tried to contact her on the only morning she was actually late in the last two and a half years? Just her luck. Rey picked up her phone, and quickly dialled the number Jessika had scribbled next to the name. And then she waited. 

Would he have questions for her? Would he criticize her policies? Would he ask for favours? Rey’s heartbeat begun to pick up as she listened to the beeps indicating the man hadn’t picked up yet. Then finally someone picked up at the other end. 

“Hello?” 

“Yes, hello. This is Rey Kenobi, Secretary of Treasury.” She quickly introduced herself. “Is Luke Skywalker present?” 

“Yes, I am present and speaking.” The voice responded, slightly amused. 

“Oh… Oh! I didn’t think you’d pick up yourself.” Rey said quickly, feeling like a complete idiot. “You, um, tried to contact me earlier today, Mr Skywalker. What was the occasion?” 

“Yes, yes, I did, didn’t I?” Then a few seconds of silence. “I have heard some troubling rumors as of late and simply wished to bring them to your attention.” 

“What is it you’ve heard?” Rey asked. What on earth could be so important and troubling that Luke Skywalker himself would be vexed enough to inform her about it?

“I take it the president is preparing for the primaries.” Skywalker said. “I heard the news that she’s running for office, again.” 

“Yes… And we are confident she can win. She is loved by the public, she is loved in the political spheres, and the media loves her as well.” 

“Yes, I thought so, too, until I heard that Snoke is running as well.” 

“Oh, no…” She sighed. Ren had been right. “Has it been confirmed or is it just rumors?” 

“My sources are very reliable.” Mr Skywalker assured her. “When this will be confirmed is only a matter of time.”


	4. Left, right and center

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The White House was haunted, Jessika was sure of it. And no, it was not because of the Halloween decorations which had been put up yesterday. No, it was because of the tired lifeless faces of the people who worked in the house that convinced her of its haunted nature. Everyone seemed to be in their own dimensions, present in the real world but only just. Even Secretary Ren and Secretary Kenobi had become too preoccupied with work to bicker and bitch at each other. Despite knowing that she should have been relieved, Jessika found it quite troubling. How serious did it have to be?

The White House was haunted, Jessika was sure of it. And no, it was not because of the Halloween decorations which had been put up yesterday. No, it was because of the tired lifeless faces of the people who worked in the house that convinced her of its haunted nature. Everyone seemed to be in their own dimensions, present in the real world but only just. Even Secretary Ren and Secretary Kenobi had become too preoccupied with work to bicker and bitch at each other. Despite knowing that she should have been relieved, Jessika found it quite troubling. How serious did it have to be?

The president was busy with her plan to be re-elected which only added to the already stressful atmosphere of the West Wing. Her approval ratings were quite high, and she would most certainly become the Democratic nominee. For some reason, however, this did not seem to lessen the amount of preparation which went into her campaign. And so everyone in the administration was working day and night to keep the systems running while madam president was fulfilling her duties as the country’s figurehead. At the moment, she was in Mexico meeting with the Prime Minister, and in her absence the White House had become considerably more unpleasant to be in. 

Jessika was just returning from the break room with a cup of coffee in her hand as she heard two very familiar voices floating from Secretary Kenobi’s office. She could not quite make out the words the voices were very obviously screaming from the top of their lungs, but somehow it made her feel more at ease than she had been prior to hearing them. Jessika sat down at her desk and started looking through Secretary Kenobi’s notes from a meeting they had attended earlier that day, and sipping her coffee. 

Everything was perfectly normal for a few minutes until the voices coming from Secretary Kenobi’s room quieted down. Jessika couldn’t help but put her cup down. This was very suspicious. Neither of them had left the room which could only mean… one of them was dead. Jessika freaked out. Now it had finally happened. One of the two had snapped and strangled the other to death! Jessika jumped up from her chair with the speed a gazelle and the grace of a three-legged turtle in a tree, and ran to the office door and yanked it open. 

“Oh my God!” The words fell from her mouth at the sight. The two public servants were sitting on the floor across the room from one another, folding something that looked a lot like…paper airplanes? “What the hell is going on here?” 

Kylo Ren and Rey stared up at Jessika with the look of children who had been caught by their mother doing something forbidden. 

“We were just…” Rey said “…just discussing the primaries.” 

“The primaries?” Jessika asked. There was no way that was the truth. No one in the White House wanted to talk about anything remotely political when they weren’t actively working. “You were not discussing the primaries.” 

The two politicians went quiet for a good ten to twenty seconds. 

“We were debating the correct spelling of the word artichoke.” Ren finally admitted. “And also telling ghost stories.” 

Was this the White House or a daycare center? Jessika could no longer tell. “And are you also planning to go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween?” She asked incredulously. “Get back to work!” 

Ren left the office and Rey went back to her desk. And Jessika added another reason to her list of reasons not to work with politicians; they were all children. 

— — 

The holidays came and went. The candidates were now rallying and campaigning, seeking supporters left, right and center. Quite quickly it became obvious who the candidates would be; next November it would be Holdo against Snoke. And Holdo had to win. She simply had to win. There was no other choice, no other way. But obviously it could not be that easy. Snoke was quickly gaining support because of his very unoriginal plan to build himself an image as the man of the people. He had always had a loyal base of followers, but his ideology seemed to be spreading like wildfire. 

Not only that, but Snoke had also begun a smear campaign against Holdo. Attack adds, dragging Holdo through the dirt, calling her names… Such low blows - had the man no shame? 

And so Rey found herself once more in the Oval Office. Kylo Ren was there, and even Secretary Hux had had the decency to join them. Sadly, Maz Kanata had been unable to join them. The president was visibly troubled. 

“We must appeal to his supporters and convince them that you are the better choice.” Secretary Kenobi spoke gently to the president. 

“Yes, of course, but how?” Holdo spoke, her voice strained. “Isn’t it obvious by now that it does not matter what I do? They will still vote for him.” 

“Madam President”, Secretary Hux spoke out. “You still have the numbers. There is no reason to be so distraught.” 

Ren couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He knew, better than anyone, that Hux would have been more than happy to see Snoke in the Oval Office instead of Holdo. How could the man be so stupid as to think no one would catch onto his attempts to sabotage the campaign from the inside? 

“Snoke is rapidly gaining support.” Kylo Ren said. “We must take the necessary measures to ensure that the numbers of his supporters do not surpass yours, Madam President.” 

“Yes, I know, but how?” Holdo sighed, looking older than ever before. No one responded. “People rarely like the status quo. I am the status quo. The people want change, and they do not believe that I can be that change.” 

“The changes Snoke would make would be catastrophic.” Rey reminded the president. “People will see through his empty promises and hateful rhetoric. They will understand that you are a reliable and competent leader. They will vote for you in the end.” 

“You don’t know that.” Ren reminded Kenobi. “Maybe they won’t understand it. Maybe they will fall for Snoke’s manipulation.” 

“Snoke is evil.” Rey said and crossed her arms. 

“From a certain point of view.” Kylo admitted. “But that is not their point of view, that is your point of view.” 

“It is the right point of view.” Rey insisted. “Are you going to tell me otherwise?”

“No, I am not going to do that.” Kylo said. “But I will remind you that the people who think Snoke is good for this country also think their point of view is the right one.” 

“But does anyone have any ideas how to stop them from thinking that?” Holdo raised her voice.

“You can’t stop people from thinking what they want to think.” Secretary Hux once again spoke up. “Ban a certain way of thinking and people will adopt it in droves.”

——

The room was as beautiful as ever. Rey was sure she’d never quite get used to how gorgeous the White House was. 

She was sitting down at a shiny conference table with the Senate majority leader and a few other important senators and congressmen. These men and women were good at their jobs; to call them cutthroat would be an understatement. She had personally always enjoyed the cruelty of it all. It was a slightly sadomasochistic part of her that took pleasure in the cold and calculating nature of politics. But the other part of her despised it. They were supposed to be after what was best for their constituents and yet these lawmakers were after power. 

“…and then we could pass this bill.” Senate majority leader, Phasma, addressed the room. 

“It will not come to pass; not when the president is vehemently against it.” Senator Unklar Plutt replied. “She will never sign this bill into law.” 

Secretary Kenobi simply sat there staring at these people. It didn’t matter what she said now. Senator Plutt was correct. Holdo would never sign a bill this sadistic. Also, most of the Senate was not behind the bill. The only chance these lawmakers had of passing this bill was to wait and hope Snoke was elected. Which would obviously never happen.

—— 

Kylo Ren was standing on the stairs leading up to the White House. It was cold evening, in his opinion, and the sun had already gone down leaving the sight quite eery. He stuck his hands into his pockets as he looked over his shoulder at the old building. In there were people working on a bill which would, if passed, lower the minimum wage for manual labor jobs. Cruel, to say the least. Not that he particularly cared. All he wanted was for Secretary Kenobi to get out of that meeting, and join him to review the tax incentives Poe had emailed him after he had already left work. This was important; he would have a committee hearing tomorrow, he would have a meeting with the president herself… This could not wait. Who cared if it was 11PM?

Of course he could just call one of his staff if he wanted to. 

He did not. Instead he continued waiting in the cooling night air until he saw the familiar form of Rey Kenobi skipping down the stairs. 

“Kenobi!” He alerted her of his presence. 

“Oh hello, Ren!” She answered, awfully chipper for someone who had just sat at a meeting for hours. “What is it you want?” 

He explained to her his dilemma with the tax incentives and she graciously took to explaining him everything he already knew. Apparently the issue was just as messy as it had ever been. 

“So either way a lot of people are going to be very unhappy.” Ren said as the two of them made their way to a nearby coffee shop. He opened the door for Rey and waited for her to go in first. 

“Such is the nature of politics.” She quipped as she slipped in through the door. There were very few customers in the shop which she liked. It was always a pain when you couldn’t find a peaceful place to sit. 

Kylo hummed in agreement and waited as Rey ordered a hot chocolate for herself. He wouldn’t have anything. “But don’t you think it is a bit unwise to have such a divisive bill in the senate so close to the election?” 

“Of course it’s unwise.” Rey said as she sat down at a small table in the corner. “But there’s nothing we can do about it now. It is already all the rage in the news media.” 

“Who’s idea was this bill, anyway?” Kylo said as Rey sipped her drink. “And don’t tell me it was Plutt.” 

“It was Plutt.” She said between sips. 

“Of course.” Kylo practically grumbled. He had never had much love for the senator. Something about the sluggish man simply rubbed Kylo the wrong way. And it also didn’t help that when Kylo had first been elected senator, Plutt had told him he to make the most out of his term because he would never get a second one. That had been ten years ago. Oh, how the tables turned… Senator Plutt was stuck, his approval ratings in steady decline, while Kylo had worked his way to the top. But still he had not forgotten Plutt’s words, and still he had not forgiven. 

“You hate him.” Rey chuckled. “You try to hide it and that’s how I know.” 

“I hate a lot of people.” Ren pointed out, looking over Rey’s shoulder and out the window into the night. “He’s not in the minority. But you hate him, too. Which is actually rare for you. And you’re right. If I could have my way, he’d be out of the Senate before dawn.” 

“Maybe we could make sure he won’t be re-elected again.” Rey proposed. Then she furrowed her brows. “Who votes for Plutt, anyway?” 

“Hell, if I know.” Kylo answered. “The same people who vote for Snoke, probably. But they still have a right to their opinion.” 

“Sometimes I wish they didn’t.” Rey said, drinking what was left of her hot chocolate. 

“How much faith do you have in the first amendment, Secretary Kenobi?” Kylo asked. Rey simply rolled her eyes. “Protect it. Even when you hate what the people are saying. Especially when you disagree with them. That’s how you show your faith it in. It’s easy to protect the right to free speech when you agree with the people who are speaking, but it is much more admirable to defend those you disagree with. Even if you hate every word they say.”

“Yada yada yada…” Rey said, getting up from her place at the table. “Will you stop preaching and get up from that chair? I need to sleep tonight if I plan on running this country in the morning.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” Kylo said, getting up and following Rey out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are what keeps me going :)


	5. It feels like a crime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn was unsure as to why he was always the one forced to sit through all the meetings Secretary Kenobi could not attend. She should have sent Jessika instead. Of course he knew that Rey and Jessika were both busy and that there was no way either of them could have been everywhere at once, however, he did not understand why it was always him that Rey sent in her stead. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate her trust, he did, but some negotiations could be so incredibly tedious that he would find himself on the verge of falling asleep.

Summer was rolling along nicely. The weather was wonderful, the flowers were in bloom, and things in the White House were going to shit. Yes, it was true, the primaries were over, and Holdo and Snoke were the nominees. Yes, but things were absolutely going to shit. Snoke’s growing support and good polls could only indicate one thing; unless things changed - and unless they change radically - Holdo would not be re-elected for a second term. She would lose this. To add to this misery, the Senate seemed to be completely unable to pass anything. No one was happy there. The Congressmen and Senators were frustrated, the Republicans were livid, the Democrats enraged, every caucus, every special interests group, everyone was unhappy with the way things were moving along. Painfully slowly without much progress.

Rey was laying on one of the sofas in her office, the blueish grey fabric soft and smooth underneath her back. She was simply staring at the ceiling. No matter how much she worked, no matter how hard she tried to make shit happen, hardly anything came to fruition. Endless meetings, hearings, brunches and lunches. For what? Nothing, apparently. Nothing was going to plan. 

The phone rang on the other side of the door. Rey could hear Jessika pick it up and answer. A few moments passed and then Jessika transferred the call to Rey. She picked up the phone which had been laying on her chest, and her heart missed a beat as she read the name on the screen. Luke Skywalker.

“Hello!” She answered the phone immediately. 

“Good afternoon, Miss Kenobi.” The familiar voice greeted her through the telephone. 

“How can I be of service to you, Sir?” She asked. Maybe a little too humble, for her own taste. She had learned a long time ago to be humble, annoyingly humble, but it still didn’t make her particularly happy. 

“I was wondering if you had the time to have dinner with me tonight.” Skywalker inquired. “There is an urgent matter far too important to discuss on the phone.” 

“Of course.” Rey said, scrambling off the sofa. “I am sure I could have Jessika arrange that. May I ask what this urgent matter concerns? Generally speaking?” 

Rey could hear the man sigh. “It would be better if I told you face to face. Can I expect you at Ted’s Bulletin at eight tonight?” 

“I’ll be there.” Rey promised. 

“I already made the reservation.” The man replied with a small smile in his voice. “I’ll see you tonight, Miss Kenobi.” 

“See you tonight.” Rey responded as she put down the phone and ended the call. For the past two months or so, she had been in contact with Skywalker semi regularly. Having a friend outside the White House was definitely a good thing as Rey found herself slowly growing irritable around the faces she had come to know over the years. 

After the call was over, Rey slipped onto the chair behind her desk, read through some of the papers from her last meeting with the president, and tried to focus on her work. That was easier said than done, because the only thing she could think of was what Luke would tell her at eight that night. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach indicating that whatever this was, it was not good. 

— — 

Finn was unsure as to why he was always the one forced to sit through all the meetings Secretary Kenobi could not attend. She should have sent Jessika instead. Of course he knew that Rey and Jessika were busy and that there was no way either of them could have been everywhere at once, however, he did not understand why it was always him that Rey sent in her stead. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate her trust, he did, but some negotiations could be so incredibly tedious that he would find himself on the verge of falling asleep. 

Luckily for him, however, Poe was usually sent to the same meetings by his employer - although Ren was still there with him. The man never missed a meeting. Still, Finn and Poe had taken to sitting side my side at most meetings, scribbling notes, and over the years they had become quite close friends. Today something was a bit off with Poe, however. Maybe the man was sick. That would explain his peculiar behavior. He kept losing his focus, every time his eyes drifted to Secretary Ren who was sitting on the other side of the table. Also he didn’t smile as much, and when he did smile, they were sad smiles that did not quite reach his eyes. Whatever was wrong with him, it was obviously very serious. 

“Poe, are you alright?” Finn finally asked when he could no longer stand the way the usually upbeat tellurian was acting. 

“Yeah, of course, why?” The man answered, although Finn found the way he said those words to be less than convincing. 

“You sure? Because you don’t seem quite alright to me.” Finn examined Poe’s facial expressions carefully. “You’re distracted, more absent-minded than usually - look, you’ve hardly even written anything down!” 

“I’m good, Finn.” Poe said although Finn found himself doubting that more and more by the second. “Just a bit under the weather, that’s all.” 

“Are you absolutely certain? You know you can tell me if there’s something troubling you, right?” Finn couldn’t seem to let this slide. 

“I’m fine!” Poe almost yelled, earning the two of them many displeased looks from the other people in the room. “I’m good.” He said almost inaudibly, and turned away from the younger man. 

Finn did not believe that for a heartbeat. Something was not right. However, he chose not to pressure Poe any further. The man would tell him when the time was right, and if not… well, he’d just have to figure it out for himself.

— — 

After a hard day’s work, Rey found the clock was steadily ticking towards 8 PM. She was happy to see Skywalker again after a few weeks of hardly even hearing from him.

It wasn’t a long walk to the restaurant although to Rey it felt like five-hundred miles. As soon as she stepped into the building, she spotted Luke Skywalker standing near the door. There were so many customers that Rey silently thanked Luke in her head for reserving a table.

“Mr Skywalker!” Rey called out to him, and walked to the man who was now smiling at her in a very friendly manner. “It is so good to meet you; it has been too long.” 

“It has, hasn’t it?” The man answered and pulled Rey into a hug. “I have been extremely busy for the past month and I can only assume that the West Wing is in chaos. I mean, it is always is chaos, but I assume it is exceptionally chaotic at the moment.” 

“Your assumptions are not incorrect.” She almost laughed as the waitress showed them to one of the tables. “Although it is rather uneventful chaos.” 

“Hmm… And how’s the president?” He asked. 

Rey frowned ever so slightly. “She is - how would I put it? - disheartened by the current state of things.” 

“Yes, I imagine she would be.” Luke said. “And believe it or not, more bad news are on the way. As a matter of fact, I brought some with me today.” 

“May I take your orders, please?” The waitress chirped in, and the two of them ordered their meals. 

Rey took a deep breath and looked intently at the older man. “So what is the bad news you bring? Should I be worried? Do you want me to inform the president?” 

“I want you to do what you feel needs to be done.” Luke told her. “But what I really want to tell you is that Secretary of Defence, Hux, is going to be resigning in order to become Snoke’s Vice President. I have also heard rumors that if Snoke were to be elected, he would appoint Majority leader Phasma as his Secretary of Defence, and keep Kylo Ren as his Secretary of State. Apparently some discussions have already taken place with all three.” 

Time appeared to stand still. Sounds clattering around the crowded restaurant all seemed to fade into a soft hum in the background. Rey felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. Words failed her and suddenly her mouth felt dry. It didn’t feel real. It wasn’t possible. It all felt as if it were happening so someone else entirely. Hux was understandable, almost expectable. Phasma was also not too far fetched. But Kylo? How could he? He was supposed to be working for Holdo, not conspiring against her with the enemy! 

“There has to be some misunderstanding… There has to be some explanation.” Rey finally forced her mouth to form words, and regardless of the syllables falling from her lips, she knew it was true. Everything she knew about the Secretary of State aligned with the idea that he would do anything to keep his station. He would work for Snoke if that was what it took. 

“I did not know this would have such an effect on you, Rey.” Luke spoke gently. “But, once again, my sources are very reliable.”

Words seemed to have lost their meaning, because his did not hit her as hard as she had expected. Rey simply stared at the table’s glossy surface for a few moments. It reminded her of the tables in the White House. Of the tables in the conference rooms where they sometimes held meetings until it was almost midnight. 

“I have to leave.” Rey said suddenly, jumping to her feet. “I’ll call you later.” She said, and with that, she was out the door and running full speed towards Capitol Hill.


	6. Too much, too late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secretary Kenobi immersed herself completely in her work. She was never off duty, and the dark circles underneath her eyes were becoming more pronounced each day. Jessika couldn’t help but worry for the woman’s wellbeing. It wasn’t healthy for Secretary Kenobi to treat herself like this; she needed to take a break before she would break herself. However, it didn’t seem to matter what Jessika told the woman. She wasn’t slowing down and was quickly spiralling out of control.

The meeting had already dragged on for hours already but the end was not yet in sight. Kylo sat quietly at his seat at the table. He couldn’t help but let his eyes flicker to his wrist where the second hand of his watch ticked the dull moments away excruciatingly slowly. Usually, Kylo enjoyed these kinds of meetings, but today he only wished he could be out of there as quickly as humanly possible. 

“This is not a political issue! I can’t believe we’re even discussing this.” Congressman Cassian exclaimed although his voice sounded unimaginably exhausted. “Banning voting on Sundays would unfairly limit the rights of certain groups of voters, and especially those whose voices need to be heard most ardently! And most of the people who would be affected are a part of Holdo’s base. For many, it is their only day off work. Not only that, but this is a secular state; there is no reason for us to - “ The Congressman was interrupted by Secretary Kenobi barging into the conference room. 

All eyes flew straight to her while hers scanned the room in search of the man she wished were a better man. The moment their eyes met, he could tell she knew. That look of utter betrayal and sheer disappointment told him everything he needed to know. She had been mad at his countless times before, but never before had he looked into her eyes only to meet such resentment in them. The moment their eyes met Rey knew Kylo knew she knew what he had done. The look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know. In those eyes she could even see the pain of realising his mistake. But it was already too late. 

“You sellout!” She raised her voice in the now muted room. 

“Rey…” His voice was almost begging. He stood up and turned his whole body to face the woman standing at the door. 

“No!” She spat, pointing an accusing finger at him. “You don’t get to do that! Not this time. Not this time. This time you fucked up. You fucked up real good!” 

“Rey, you have to let me explain.” He responded in an impressively passive tone. 

She couldn’t believe the balls this asshat had. How dare he tell her to allow him to explain? “No, I don’t! I don’t need to let you explain anything! And what exactly is there to say? That you’re sorry, is that what you’re trying to say?” 

“Rey, please.” His voice was still low and calm, but in his chest he could feel rage rising like flames. It was still contained but would soon reach the surface. 

“You’re a sellout, a traitor!” She cried out with tears in her eyes. “How could you? I trusted you! We all trusted you!”

“For fuck’s sake, Rey, I haven’t done anything that would deserve this kind of a reaction!” His voice finally betrayed his fiery temperament. 

“You don’t think Holdo is going to win. You don’t think she’ll win and you’re simply looking out for your own interests.” She accused him. 

“Haven’t you paid any attention to what has been going on as of late? Have you or haven’t you?” He roared back at her. “She won’t win. And yes, I am doing everything I can to land myself a good position in the next administration as well. You should be doing the same!” 

“And work for Snoke?” She said, stomping closer to Ren who had already taken multiple steps towards her. “I’d rather not have a job at all!” 

“It is quite fucking possible you’ll end up without one, come January.” He snarled at her. “There needs to be a peaceful transition of power. That is the way we can keep our government running.” 

“Oh, don’t you worry about my career and livelihood; I will continue to thrive even once I leave this godforsaken building!” She barked back at him. “That is because I have standards whereas you only care about having a shiny desk and a fancy title!” 

“You don’t know what I care about.” He growled at her, bending down. “I care about getting things done. And in this world, sweetheart, a shiny desk and a fancy title allow you to get all different kinds of things done. This is an opportunity to continue to get things done. You, on the other hand, will spend your final months in the West Wing spitting at the ceiling and chatting with my uncle on the phone.” 

Without giving Kenobi the opportunity to respond, Kylo left the room with the doors banging. He headed straight into his office where he proceeded to break a window by throwing a chair through it. He would have to compensate it but he did not care. He did not care one bit. Not. One. Bit. Poe Dameron ran into the room after him, however Kylo didn’t even look at him before leaving the room, calling his bodyguard, and going home for the night. The following morning he called in sick. Let them deal with their useless government on their own! This administration was a joke.

— — 

In the following two months, Secretary Kenobi immersed herself completely in her work. She was never off duty, and the dark circles underneath her eyes were becoming more pronounced each day. Jessika couldn’t help but worry for the woman’s wellbeing. It wasn’t healthy for Secretary Kenobi to treat herself like this; she needed to take a break before she would break herself. However, it didn’t seem to matter what Jessika told the woman. She wasn’t slowing down and was quickly spiralling out of control. 

“I need to get this done.” Secretary Kenobi always told Jessika when she attempted to get her employer to unwind. “My time here is limited. I can’t stop.” 

Jessika was not the only staff member worried sick over Secretary Kenobi’s compulsive behavior. Finn also found himself fearing for the politician. He had hardly seen her outside the office since July, and she was there every morning when he came to work, and every night she stayed behind when he left. Though Kenobi hadn’t admitted it, Finn was fairly sure that her recent change in attitude had absolutely everything to do with her fairly public fallout with Secretary Ren. And he was right. After confronting Ren in front of almost everyone who was anyone in the House and the Senate, Rey hadn’t been to the man’s office more than once. It had been late at night in early August. 

She was never going back. 

Or so she kept telling herself every time she found her thoughts drift dangerously in that direction. There was no need for her to go there. Everything she needed Ren to know could pass through Jessika. Rey didn’t need to even look at the man. The traitor. The snake. 

Hux had resigned from his position as Secretary of Defence and was now balls deep in Snoke’s campaign. They were already celebrating their imminent victory. There was nothing Holdo and her supporters could do. They were in full-blown damage control mode. Every day Rey felt as if her execution were approaching. There was so much that needed to be done and so little time in which to do it. 

Still, it wasn’t until the last night of October that Rey finally reached her breaking point. She was sitting in her office, watching the clock as time slipped through her fingers like flowing sand. And just like that she was reduced to a sobbing wreck. She simply stayed there, laying on her desk crying, as November arrived to Washington D.C. 

— — 

Kylo Ren was walking down D.C. streets with Armitage Hux by his side. The ginger man was grinning malevolently but Ren could not find it within himself to feel slighted by that. It didn’t matter to him. Whoever was in office - Holdo, Snoke, or anyone else for that matter - it didn’t matter. It was all the same. People liked to think that it actually made a difference, but Ren knew better than to believe that. Yes, of course the president was powerful and influential. Of course they could and would have an effect on the entire nation. The country, the government, the lives of its citizens would be affected. But none of it mattered in the end. People would continue to live and die no matter who sat in the Oval Office. No matter if they hated or loved the government, they would still continue their meaningless existence under whatever administration happened to be in power. 

“A few more days, Ren.” Hux said with sadistic joy in his voice. “Just a few more days until all these Democrat cockroaches know that they’re going to be out on the streets in a couple of months.” 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Hux.” Ren replied. He had never liked the ex “Many of them will continue working here even after Snoke takes office.” 

“Cockroaches are notoriously difficult to crush.” The ex-Secretary of Defence snarled. “Especially that bitch Kenobi. I heard about the stunt she pulled on you; very disrespectful. But at least we won’t have to worry about her in a few more months.” 

Ren clenched his jaw so tight it felt as if his teeth were going to shatter. He was not pleased with Kenobi’s behavior in the slightest, however the tone with which Hux spoke of the woman was more than enough to make his blood boil. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” Ren said without even so much as a glance in Hux’s direction. 

“What do you mean?” Hux asked. “You can’t possibly believe that Snoke would allow a bitch like her to serve in his administration?” 

“That’s not what I meant.” Ren spoke. “He would not want her in his administration, naturally. And even if he did, it wouldn’t matter. She would turn down any position Snoke would offer her. He could beg on his knees for her to become his Secretary of State and she would still turn it down. I’ve known her for years, I know how she thinks.” 

“Then what did you mean?” Hux interrogated him further. Ren found himself disliking the man even more than he had moments earlier. If that was even possible, that is. 

“She’ll land herself a seat in the Senate with ease.” Ren spoke as patiently as he could. “She’ll write hit-pieces for The Washington Post or the New York Times. She’ll go work for Skywalker, she’ll become a Congresswoman; I don’t know exactly what she’ll do but whatever it is, we are going to have to worry about it.” 

“You overestimate the bitch, Ren.” Hux said with a scowl. “She doesn’t have that much power once she’s no longer Secretary of Treasury. She’ll be a nuisance, yes, but not an actual problem.” 

“You underestimate her, Hux.” Ren simply said to which Hux was smart enough not no reply. The two men kept walking in silence for the rest of the way. 

— — 

The Oval Office was so quiet you could hear a needle drop. It was the 9th of November. Snoke had won. President Holdo, Secretary Kenobi, and Attorney General Kanata were in the room which felt considerably colder than usual. None of the women could quite tell if it was actually any cooler or if this was simply a trick their minds were playing on them. 

“There was nothing more you could have done.” Maz Kanata broke the silence. The president simply let out a shaky breath, and Rey closed her eyes and let her head bend down. The new Secretary of Defence hadn’t even bothered showing up. Secretary Ren was somewhere celebrating with the rest of Snoke’s minions, and Holdo had specifically denied anyone else entrance into the room. 

“There had to be something…” Holdo whimpered, clearly on the verge of crying. “There has to be.” 

Rey could feel tears burning behind her shut eyes. There was nothing anyone could do now. They would have to let this go and move on. She would find another job. She could run for Senator, again. This was not the end of the world. But it did feel like the end of a world. A world in which they had all lived and breathed for the past four years. 

“We only have less than three months left…” Holdo continued. Rey opened her eyes and looked at the woman who was now sitting on the desk, her head down, hands covering her face. She looked like a broken woman. “Less than three months.” 

Three months. Rey swallowed, forcing her tears down, and fixed her posture. 

“Then why don’t we get back to work?” She asked, attempting to keep her voice as steady and strong as she possibly could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Show me some love and leave a comment :)


	7. If only

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey was alone in her messy apartment scrolling through Twitter when she got a simple text message from Luke Skywalker telling her to open the TV and watch CNN. This was a bit weird, she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a bit shorter than the other ones. I really needed to get Rey out of the White House to get the story rollin' and the main function of this chapter is to be a transition. But please enjoy! Also thank you to everyone for your amazing comments, they truly mean the world to me <3

Time went by so incredibly fast. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and before anyone even realized it, January was well on its way. Jessika never knew leaving office would be so hard. Not only did she have to organize everything and move everything out of Secretary Kenobi’s office, it also took an emotional toll on her. It took an emotional toll on everyone. She had actually heard Miss Kenobi crying in the bathroom more than once, however she had decided not to address the issue. If she had learned anything about the Treasury Secretary in the two years she had worked for her, it was that the woman valued her privacy and needed no one to coddle her or to take care of her. Jessika admired her all the more for it. 

Secretary Kenobi had only brought up the fact that their time in the West Wing was coming to an end exactly once. That had been simply to inform Jessika that she would continue to work for Kenobi even after they left office. Rey was planning to officially make public her plans to run for a seat in the senate in the midterm elections. Jessika could hardly believe that Miss Kenobi actually had to run; her approval ratings were so high, she could simply stand and she would win. 

“Jessika!” Poe Dameron’s voice broke her reverie. The man was standing at the door with Finn by his side. “We’re going to go grab some drinks on our way home. Would you like to come with us? We haven’t really had a chance to unwind since the election.” 

“No, thanks. I have so much left to do…” She let her voice trail off. She truly appreciated Poe’s attempts to lighten the mood in the White House, but they were so close to the inauguration that Jessika could hardly sleep at night. She could only imagine how Madam President had to be feeling. 

Finn and Poe shared a quick glance before the younger man spoke up. “If you do change your mind, don’t hesitate to call us, okay?” 

“Okay.” She said, turning back to the task at hand and the two men left her alone in the room. People were steadily trickling out of the West Wing; some were carrying boxes with them, others were not. Jessika on the other hand did not leave until well past midnight. 

— —

Rey was alone in her messy apartment scrolling through Twitter when she got a simple text message from Luke Skywalker telling her to open the TV and watch CNN. This was a bit weird, she thought. Furrowing her brows, Rey quickly turned on the TV and spent the next minute and a half looking for the remote. She should really clean up… The house was so incredibly messy that she didn’t even have the face to hire a cleaning lady to do all the work for her. She’d have to find the time at some point. Anyway, as she finally changed the channel to CNN, her heart clenched painfully in her chest. Secretary Ren was being interviewed by host Beebee Aight. 

“…despite working for President Holdo these past four years?” Aight asked Ren but Rey completely missed the beginning of the question. 

“I do not think that working in the previous administration has in anyway affected my ability to work in this one.” Ren answered, his voice betraying nothing. Just looking at him made Rey’s stomach turn. She felt like she was going to be sick. But Ren continued. “On the contrary, I have gained four years worth of valuable experience and I sincerely hope that it can be useful, not only to our future president, but to this country and the government as a whole. A peaceful transition of power is of utmost importance especially now when our great nation is more divided than at any other point in recent history.”

“But it must have been a hard blow to your colleagues. I mean, these were people who spent years of their lives campaigning and working for President Holdo.” Aight questioned Ren. “This must have caused at least some friction in the West Wing, or am I completely mistaken?” 

Ren tensed up slightly but anyone unfamiliar with the man would not have noticed the change. It was so subtle that even Rey almost missed it and she had known him for years. “There were quite a few people who were not happy with my decision to accept the president-elect’s offer to work as his Secretary of State. And indeed, a handful of tense conversations took place, but nothing too major.” He lied so smoothly Rey couldn’t help but feel utterly disgusted. “Most people were extremely understanding.” 

“What about the president?” Beebee Aight continued their line of questioning. “What was her reaction?” 

Ren chuckled slightly. It was a familiar sound, almost like a memory in itself. It was cruel how mental agony could be felt as physical pain. “Yes, I also assumed President Holdo would not be pleased, but as it just so happened, she proved herself to be worthy of her station. She told me she was perfectly fine with my decision and that she had my back. It has truly been an absolute pleasure and a great honor to work for such an incredible woman. And although I believe that our new president-elect will be even better for this country, President Holdo deserves much more credit than most people even realize.” 

Rey wanted to scream at the television screen. As if that would make a difference. How dare he? After he had officially informed Holdo of his decision to jump ship, the president had indeed been gracious enough not to fire his ungrateful ass like Rey would have done had it been up to her, but perfectly fine with his decision? That statement was not in line with anything Rey saw. After having a conversation with Secretary Ren, Holdo had called upon Rey who had seen first hand how betrayed the president felt. 

“How am I supposed to even find the strength to keep campaigning” The President had asked with tears in her eyes “when my own Secretary of State is turning his back on me?” 

Before Rey could hear what the next question Aight asked Ren was, she turned off the television. She could not listen to another word that turncoat had to say without breaking down. And to think she had once almost loved this man? He was disloyal. Dishonest. Disrespectful. Disgusting. She hated him. She hated him more than she hated Senator Plutt. For fuck’s sake, she hated Ren more than she hated Snoke himself. At least that was how she felt whenever she saw him. But when she didn’t see him, she would have given anything to see him. He was on her mind far more often than she was willing to admit even to herself. Every morning she woke up without him by her side, it felt as if someone had stuck a katana through her abdomen, and she hated herself for it. This man was a turncoat and did not deserve to have a place in her mind. 

— — 

The inauguration was tomorrow. The inauguration was tomorrow. The inauguration was tomorrow! No matter how many times Kylo told himself that, he couldn’t decide wether he was exited or not. He had been exited until he had been on his way to his office when he spotted Secretary Kenobi in the hallway. Her hair was down for the first time he could remember and she looked as beautiful as she had four years earlier when they had fought over wether or not Kylo should be a part of the Holdo administration. She had been so captivating, so headstrong, and she had not yielded to him even when he had pushed her to the edge of insanity. She had fought him every step of the way and made sure that if she fell over the edge, he was coming with her. 

But something was different now. It wasn’t only the four stressful years and countless of sleepless nights that had had an effect on the impressive woman he saw in the hallway, but also the way in which he viewed her had changed. She was no longer a thorn in his side; she had been his rock, his safe haven, someone to rely on when things weren’t going so well for him. But he had chosen his job and title before her. He had broken the rock, burned the safe haven to ashes, and destroyed any fondness she may have once felt for him. 

And he hated himself for it. He was about to turn away and walk in the opposite direction, when Rey finally noticed him. He was expecting her to yell at him. To fight him, to insult him, to try and break him; he wanted her to do that. He wanted her to punish him for the mistakes he had made. It would have been so much easier than having to go to bed each night, unable to fall asleep, as he beat himself up for what he had done. He could finally admit it; as little as he cared about Holdo and Snoke, as little as he cared about who he worked for, as little as any of that mattered to him…Rey mattered to him. So he stood there, anticipating her rage. 

It never came. Instead she looked at him with so much sorrow etched onto her face, that it almost broke Kylo’s heart. And then came the words that crushed it to dust. 

“I miss you. Leave me be.” 

— — 

“So help me God.” With his hand on the Bible, Snoke spoke those words which were to echo in Rey’s mind for years to come. She stood there in the audience, and while some may have heard a plea for help and guidance in Snoke’s words, she heard a challenge. Rey did not believe that there was a god, but if there indeed was such a thing as God, even he could not save Snoke from Rey Kenobi. She was going to snap him like a twig. Whatever it took, she would give. Not even divine intervention was going to get in her way. 

“So help me God.” She muttered under her breath as Snoke turned to face the crowd with a sickening smile plastered across his face.


	8. Life goes on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessika was counting the chairs for the third time in this moderately sized room on the southern side of Washington D.C. It felt weird to be back in the city…But Miss Kenobi would be giving a crucial speech today and everything had to be in order before any of the the attendees would arrive. Her campaign wasn’t yet beginning, of course, but this was an attempt to draw even more attention to what they would be doing in the future. It would give them the publicity they needed. There would be reporters and news media, as well. People seemed to be very interested as to what she had to say. Perhaps they were looking forward to Miss Kenobi potentially bashing the President. She had a habit of doing that. It wasn’t terribly wise in Jessika’s opinion, but then again, she wasn’t the one in the limelight

After working for Holdo for the previous four years, Kylo couldn’t help but immediately notice the difference in the atmosphere of the White House when Snoke sat in the Oval Office. The beautiful building seemed somehow much more ominous than ever before. It was almost as if behind the aesthetically pleasing facade there was now something dangerous yet almost invisible, hiding just beneath the surface. It was like septicaemia. Deadly if left untreated. However, Kylo did not know the cure. And so there was nothing he could do apart from simply continuing to do his job. However, even simply doing his job had proven itself to be an almost impossible feat. Snoke was demanding him to attend private meetings sometimes multiple times a day. It definitely didn’t help that he was bombarded on almost a daily basis by countless phone calls from a seemingly unlimited number of reporters who wished to interview him. Sure, he did a few interviews on a semi regular basis, but did not have time to be on MSNBC twenty-four hours a day. 

What made all of this even better was that Kylo was in a sour mood. However, today it was not because of ravenous reporters or Snoke monitoring his each step, no, today it was something different. 

He had been sitting at his desk like so many times before, making phone calls, reading through papers, and drinking coffee. Everything had been unexceptional, run-of-the-mill, normal affairs. After having a particularly commonplace phone call with some lobbyist or another, he had felt like watching the news.

“The previous Secretary of Treasury Rey Kenobi announces her plans to run for senate once more.” The host Kylo had never seen before or at least didn’t remember said. “Before her time as one of President Holdo’s Treasury Secretary, Miss Kenobi worked in the senate for only one term. Earlier today, the D.N.C as well as Senate Minority Leader Mon Mothma showcased their support for the ex-Secretary.” Then the news cut to Mothma telling reporters what a great person she believed Rey to be. 

Kenobi was running for Senator. How utterly expectable. Kylo would have thought the woman would at least surprise him somehow. It wasn’t that he was mad at her for running for office, but he almost wished that she hadn’t. The woman had never been able to keep her mouth shut when she desperately needed to. Kylo knew she would get into some sort of trouble with the new president. She had already been very vocal about her disdain for the man. 

Kylo still could not quite tell what he thought about Snoke. The man wasn’t a good man, that was for sure, but anyone would have to give him credit for being a good politician. Those two things were not the same and not to be conflated with one another, Kylo reminded himself. Nor were they compatible. That he had learned years ago. You could only pick one. Good people were dogs, sheep, and horses. Good politicians were alligators, lions, and wolves. It had always been absurd to Kylo that children would spend nights lying awake because they feared the monsters underneath their beds. It wasn’t fictional monsters the children needed to fear; the lawmakers could destroy their futures far more efficiently. 

— —

After leaving the West Wing, Rey had moved to Philadelphia. It wasn’t just because Luke Skywalker, who had become something of an advisor and a mentor to her in the previous year or so, lived there; she had grown up there and that was where she was also running for Senate. She had a very strong base in her district, and being affiliated with Luke had simply gained her even more support. It seemed that while she had been in D.C., the people in her home-city had come to idolize Luke almost to a scary extent. Luke was also aware of what had happened; he had become a legend. Well, as much of a legend as a political activist could be. Especially the younger people loved him and looked up to him. His influence had grown exponentially and he hadn’t been exactly unheard of when Rey had still lived there. 

“I’ve been thinking about retiring.” Luke told Rey one day. “I’m starting to get old, you know. Maybe I should follow my sister’s example, let it all go, and live the rest of my days quietly and without this never-ending shit storm raging around me.” 

“You mean Senator Organa? Kylo Ren’s mother?” Rey asked. 

“Yes, although she isn’t a senator anymore, and I doubt she has spoken to her son in at least a year.” Luke confirmed. “They were so close until one day they weren’t.” 

“He has always been very unwilling to talk about her.” Rey agreed. “He’d only bring her up after some very heavy drinking. But she did call him every now and then.” 

Luke furrowed his brows. “And how is it exactly that you know this? I thought you and Kylo had some eternal feud going on.” 

Rey looked so sad that Luke was sure she was going to cry. “We used to be …friends. In our own weird way. Then the entire thing with Snoke happened and we haven’t really spoken since.” 

“Did you ever meet her?” Luke asked. Rey looked at him, slightly befuddled. “Leia, I mean.” 

“No, we’ve never actually met each other.” She said, shaking her head from side to side. Then she got up from the chair on which she had been sitting and walked to the refrigerator to get herself a beer. They were at Luke’s house, but he had made sure that she understood that she was more than welcome to treat herself to anything in his fridge. “But she knows who I am.” 

“I know she knows. She is actually the one who told me to look into you before I reached out to you the first time.” He told her. “Bring me one of those beers, as well, will you?” 

“She was the one who recommended me to Holdo.” Rey said, giving Luke the bottle. “I was so amazed, you know. Never in a million years would I have expected to be offered my position in the Holdo administration. They must have had so much faith in me.” 

“You did not let them down.” Luke assured her. They were quiet for a moment. “Would you want to thank Leia for her endorsement? In person?” 

Rey was struck dumb. “You would do that for me?” 

“Of course!” Luke exclaimed, taking another sip from his drink. “I’m sure she would love to meet you, too. And it will give me a good excuse to invite her over; it has been too long since we last saw one another. I wouldn’t mind seeing Han again, either.” 

“Her husband?” Rey asked.

“Yes, and Kylo Ren’s father.” Luke confirmed. As little as Ren had talked about his mother, he had spoken about his father even less. Before this moment, Rey had not even heard the man’s name. 

“Han Ren…” Rey said thoughtfully, but Luke simply started laughing at her. “What?” 

“Not Han Ren!” He laughed with tears in his eyes. “What sort of name is that? No, his name is Han Solo.” 

“Then why is Ren…well, Ren?” Rey asked. 

“He changed his name after he decided he wanted to run as a Republican.” Luke said. Rey had never even thought to ask wether or not Kylo Ren was Ren’s actual name. She had just sort of assumed that to be the case. “Apparently, having two very outspoken Democrats as your parents doesn’t sink in well with the voters. Ben Solo. That’s his real name. Didn’t he tell you?” 

“No.” Rey shook her head. “He never mentioned it.” 

— — 

Jessika was counting the chairs for the third time in this moderately sized room on the southern side of Washington D.C. It felt weird to be back in the city… But Miss Kenobi would be giving a crucial speech today and everything had to be in order before any of the the attendees would arrive. Her campaign wasn’t going to begin yet, of course, but this was an attempt to draw even more attention to what they would be doing in the future. It would give them the publicity they needed. There would be reporters and news media, as well. People seemed to be very interested as to what she had to say. Perhaps they were looking forward to Miss Kenobi potentially bashing the President. She had a habit of doing that. It wasn’t terribly wise in Jessika’s opinion, but then again, she wasn’t the one in the limelight. She wouldn’t have to deal with the backlash as much, although it would all go through her. Jessika wasn’t happy when she had to sort through death threats Snoke supporters had sent Miss Kenobi. 

“Jessika!” She heard a familiar voice behind her, and quickly turned around to see a grinning Poe and a frowning Finn only a few feet away. 

“Poe! Finn!” She exclaimed happily. “I haven’t see you two for ages!” And indeed she hadn’t. After Snoke took office, Kylo Ren had been gracious enough to hire Finn to be a part of his staff. However, Jessika had a feeling that Poe had had something to do with that decision. She had never actually seen Finn and Secretary Ren interact with one another, ever. Secretly she had always thought that the two men had more in common than they perhaps realised. It was common knowledge that Ren had grown up in a Democratic household but had become a Republican at some point in his youth. Finn, on the other hand, had been a Republican for quite a long time before deciding that the Democratic party was a better place for him. He was quite the moderate, mind you, and maybe that was exactly why he got along with Poe so well. Poe was a moderate as well, but a Republican. Jessika had always enjoyed listening to them debate one another because unlike with Ren and Kenobi, their debates did not devolve into shouting matches. 

“How have you been?” Poe asked, sweeping her into an impossibly tight hug. “The West Wing has felt so empty without you.” 

“Empty is not the adjective I would use.” Finn scoffed. “The place is just not the same anymore. It feels sick; infected. I swear the air is three times thicker than it used to be, and someone has been fucking with the A.C.; the place is freezing and it’s almost June.” 

Poe let Jessika go and instead turned to pat the younger man on the back. “It’s not that bad; sure it feels a bit different but we’ll get used to it.” 

“I’m not sure I want to get used to it.” Finn sighed, but offered Poe a sad smile although it came a cross more like a grimace, as if he were in pain.

“So what are you guys doing here?” Jessika asked. “Are you going to stick around for the speech or did you just come to see me?” 

The men smiled slightly. “Oh, we came to see you but we are forced to stick around.” Poe said jokingly. 

“What? Secretary Ren didn’t bother showing up?” Jessika asked. She didn’t believe he would show up. 

“Oh, he is coming.” Finn corrected her. “He’s been pacing in a circle around his room for the last few hours, you know. The man has got to be stressed out about this whole ordeal. But yeah, we’re just happy that the president isn’t going to be here.” 

“Listen, I’ve really got to get back to work…” Jessika finally told the guys. “But if you‘d like to meet for drinks afterwards, I’d be more than happy to continue this discussion.” The guys looked at one another before nodding in unison. “Great, but you’re going to have to wait for me.” 

“I think we can do that.” Finn assured her, giving her shoulder a squeeze, before the two friends left Jessika to count the chairs for a fourth time. 

— — 

Rey’s heart was beating out of control. It was weird that no matter how many speeches and interviews she gave, her stage-fright never seemed to diminish. Over the years she had learned how to deal with it, but back when she was younger, she had thrown up before almost every even in which she had to be the center of attention. Not a good quality in a politician. But she worked around it as best as she could. She had gotten really into meditating before having to give a speech. It gave her the chance to calm her body down and along with her body, her mind became calmer and clearer as well. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my good friend Rey Kenobi!” Luke Skywalker introduced her. Ok, showtime. 

Rey took her first few steps on stage, stopped to give Luke a hug, and then continued to the stand which was located exactly in the middle of the stage. Rey looked at her audience. She knew some of the faces, others were new. Her heart almost stopped when her gaze met Kylo Ren’s dark brown eyes. Or Ben Solo’s. Or whoever he was; it didn’t matter. She had a speech to give. 

“Thank you, Mr Skywalker.” She begun, quickly glancing back at the grey haired man giving her a double thumbs-up. Then she turned back to face the crowd. “I also want to thank all of you for being here with us today. I am sure you are very busy and I appreciate you taking the time to come hear what I have to say.” She took a short break, letting her eyes skim over this sea of faces. “I wish to begin by addressing some extremely important issues…” She continued talking. She worked her way through the speech, point by point, addressing many different topics from global warming and immigration to the possibly upcoming tax reform which had been making waves in Washington recently. 

“And finally” She said after about thirty-five minutes of non-stop yapping “I know most of you came here to hear me say it. I will not disappoint you, don’t worry. I have said it before, I will say it now, and I will say it again; our newly inaugurated president is a farce. He is an enemy of the people he has sworn to serve and protect. We see it in the laws his administration has proposed and in the legislation which has passed in the Senate and Congress under his watch. Unless we do something about this, we are going to be going down a very dark path. Everything we have worked for, everything we have built, everything is at stake here. We need a strong opposition if we are to survive the next three and a half years. We have voices and now is the time to use them. We must make our voices heard. And our voices must carry a clear message; we will not settle for this. We deserve better. We demand better. Thank you.” She finished her speech. 

As Rey stepped off stage, she was met by audience members who wished to shake her hand and wish her all the best. She was also met by audience members who scoffed at her and all but spat in her face. It was alright. She was used to it by now. There was no way to please everyone. No matter what a politician said or did, some people were going to hate them. Such was the nature of politics. Then a someone approached her. Rey immediately could tell who the short woman was. Her heartbeat picked up its pace as the ex-Senator made her way to where Rey was standing. 

“Mrs Organa…” Rey said, holding out her hand to the woman to whom she owed so much. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I have always wanted to thank you in person for all you have done for me.” 

The older woman simply smiled at Rey in a warm manner. “I only did what I felt was right. You owe me nothing.” When Rey didn’t immediately respond, Leia Organa looked around the room. “Now where is my brother?” She asked with a familiar twinkle in her dark brown eyes.


	9. The Color Purple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo Ren had always despised paperwork. It was his least favorite part of his job and that is why he had his staff do it for him. He told Poe everything he needed done that week, and then Poe delegated all of it off to other employees. Kylo really didn’t care about who did what as long as the paperwork was done when he needed it to be. But it had better be done when he needed it, and it had better be done properly.

Leia Organa sat at her breakfast table in her house in Washington. Although it had been years since Leia had retired from her political career, she had not found it within herself to leave the city. It didn’t matter to Han where they lived, anyway, because he was hardly ever home. Instead he kept flying around the globe only coming back a few times a year. It was not easy to forgive him for choosing his career over her but Leia tried. But now without work to keep her occupied, she found herself missing him. That is why keeping in touch with Luke and Rey had become so important to her. It had now been a few months since Leia had first met Rey, and every time they spoke, she continued to be impressed by the younger woman. But there was something -sadness?- that always made its way on to Rey’s face whenever Leia decided to bring up Ben. 

“They used to be friends, apparently.” Luke had told Leia when she had asked him about it. “But she believes that Ben betrayed her as well as the rest of the Holdo administration when he decided to go work for Snoke.” 

“It is always such a tragedy when politics wreck friendships and families.” Leia said woefully. “Politics should never come between you and the people you love. I learned that the hard way and I’m afraid that Rey has to learn it the hard way, too.” 

“This isn’t about what the girl has to or doesn’t have to learn, Leia.” Luke let out a sigh. “Ben keeps choosing his political beliefs over his relationships with other human beings.”

“Just as Rey chose hers. And just like I chose mine.” Leia reminded her brother. “She has every right to be hurt and to be displeased with my son’s decisions. But what she does not need to do is to let those decisions dictate the course of their lives. Trust me, I know. I wish I had done so much so differently. At this very moment Rey may feel like her hatred is justified - which it is - but in the future she will realize it wasn’t worth it in the end.” 

“Losing a son and losing a friend are two very different things.” Luke argued. 

“Of course they are.” Leia agreed. “But do you honestly believe that they were simply friends? Have you not seen the way she reacts whenever we mention his name? Or the way she looks away when Ben is in the news? I know you have never been one to have much interest in romance, but even you must be able to see it. It is so painfully obvious.” 

Luke was struck dumb. He had never even considered the possibility that Rey and Ben had been somehow involved with one another. “She would not have fallen in love with him in the first place, Leia.” 

“Because he’s a Republican and she’s a Democrat?” Leia demanded. 

“That is not what I meant.” Luke defended himself. But as he thought about it, he realized he had meant it. 

Leia let out a joyless chuckle. “I know you meant it, Luke. But there are people in this world who see more than just red and blue. Both Rey and Ben fall into that category. Sadly, it seems they have been temporarily blinded. Let’s hope, for both their sake, that they are not willingly going to keep their eyes shut even after their visions have been restored.” 

— — 

Rey woke up in the middle of the night, jumping up in her bed. For a few moments she panicked because she could not see nor remember where she was. The room was dark and she could hardly see her surroundings. She was not at home in Philadelphia nor was she in her apartment in D.C. Then it all came back to her. She was in a hotel room in New York City. Of course. She would be having brunch with an important potential donator. Lando Calrissian. He was the founder of an environmentalist coalition which wished to impose harsher regulations on oil drilling everywhere around the country, especially in the Atlantic Ocean. Now that both the House and the Senate were dominated by the Republicans and a Republican president was in Office, they desperately needed people like Rey in power and were willing to give her campaign great amounts of financial support. 

Rey sat back down onto her bed. The white sheets felt awfully familiar yet sterile despite being soft underneath her bare thighs. They almost reminded her of something she could not quite put her finger on. There was a memory somewhere in her mind, a memory which refused to rise to the surface. It was funny how many times things like that happened. You could almost remember something that kept slipping away from you. It was on the tip of your tongue but refused to take shape. It was a strange shadow, a figure without a form. It felt like the blurry memory you sometimes have of a dream when you first wake up, a memory which dissipates during the day until the only thing you remember is that you had some dream in the first place. 

Falling onto her back on the bed, Rey turned her attention towards the ceiling. Then she closed her eyes, attempting to coax her overactive mind into calming down and falling asleep once more. She turned onto her left side. Then to her right. Then back onto her back. Then onto her stomach. No matter how she lay there in the dark room, her mind refused to stop running around in circles. This was too common for her. She had experienced this too many times before. 

“Calm down, Rey. You need to sleep.” She could almost hear Ren’s voice whisper from the edges of her mind. “Tomorrow is… no, it’s already today, isn’t it? Today is going to be very important and you don’t want to got to work sleep-deprived.” 

“You mean you don’t want to go to work sleep-deprived.” She quipped back. Ren simply chuckled, wrapping his strong arms around her torso. Rey swore she could feel it. She knew it couldn’t be real but it didn’t matter. 

“Yes, but I also don’t want you to work yourself to death. You need to learn how to calm down.” His voice felt so real… “Have you tried meditating like I taught you?” 

“Yes.” She admitted. “It helps a lot. I did it before the speech I gave in late May. You attended it. Do you remember it?” 

“Of course I remember it.” Kylo spoke gently and Rey swore she could feel his breath hitting the nape of her neck. “I was there, wasn’t I?” 

“Yes, you were there.” She admitted. “I was very surprised to see you there. I thought you wouldn’t show up. I was happy you did, though.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I missed you so much.” Kylo said. “I was there then and now I’m here.”

“You’re not really here.” She whispered into the emptiness of the hotel room. That seemed to break the trance she had been in. She felt Kylo fade away from her. She opened her eyes only to find herself alone in the dark. Somehow, the room felt considerably bigger and emptier than it had before. Quickly, she stood up and made her way to a nearby loveseat on which she sat reading The Wall Street Journal until finally the sun rose from between the tall buildings jotting up out of the asphalt-covered ground like mushrooms in a forest after the rain. 

Then she joined Mr Calrissian for brunch, received a hefty donation, and went about her life as if nothing had happened that night. Her imagination had played tricks on her as she had wavered on the edge of falling asleep. She knew that to be the case. But in that moment, it had felt as real as the ground underneath her feet and the air in her lungs.

— — 

Kylo Ren had always despised paperwork. It was his least favorite part of his job and that is why he had his staff do it for him. He told Poe everything he needed done that week, and then Poe delegated all of it off to other employees. Kylo really didn’t care about who did what as long as the paperwork was done when he needed it to be. But it had better be done when he needed it, and it had better be done properly. Lately, he had also come to hate phone calls with members of Congress. Didn’t those useless bastards have better things to do than waste his time? Could you please do this and could you please do that? Would you please tell the president this and that? And while you’re at it would you secure us more votes? This was not what his job was supposed to entail. So he always told them no. Also meetings, hearings, and interviews had become a pain. To be perfectly honest, Kylo had come to hate every single thing about his job. He was still good at it, and he still did it. People were satisfied with his performance and even the president was impressed. 

Ren, however, was not satisfied. Everything the president did was taken up with him. Why? He was not the president’s babysitter. If the president wanted to ease the restrictions on drilling oil, it was none of his business. He worked for the president because the president had been elected. People had elected him to push forth his agenda, and Ren simply helped in the execution of said agenda. Plain and simple. It was his job. And he hated it. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day. Those days became weeks. Those weeks became months. His newfound hatred of his occupation did not diminish; it amplified. 

It didn’t exactly matter to Ren that people didn’t like the president. Hell, most of the people inside the White House did not like the president! But what did matter to him was that his party was being hijacked by its most radical faction. He knew that there was going to be a time when Snoke was no longer in office but Snoke’s legacy even then would continue to tarnish all those calling themselves Republican. They would be judged not only for what Snoke did, but also for how the rest of the party was going to respond to that. He wasn’t stupid; he knew what was going on. Every single day he found himself wishing Holdo were still in office. But she was not. Instead there was Snoke who acted as if he owned the entire universe. God, the man probably believed that he was the center of the universe…

That is why Kylo was in a sour mood every day. Poe and Finn did everything they could to stay out of his way as much as humanly possible. It was quite impressive how little they managed to spend time with the man taking into consideration that they worked for him. 

“Do you think Ren’s bad mood has something to do with the fact that he’s not getting laid anymore now that Miss Kenobi is no longer here?” Poe asked Finn one day when they were going through some of Secretary Ren’s never-ending paperwork.

“It’s none of our business, that’s what I think.” Finn said, rolling his eyes, and resuming his work. 

Poe sighed, crossing off something that was written on one of the papers in his hand. “Seriously, Finn; he has never been this agitated before, and he was never exactly jovial to begin with. There has to be some reason.” When Finn did not answer him, the older man simply shook his head from side to side in exasperation. It was obvious that Finn was not interested in a discussion about their boss’s sex life. Not then. Poe resumed his work and the two of them worked in solemn silence until it was time to go home for the night. 

The next morning they came to work, they found a sleeping Kylo Ren on a sofa in his office. The TV was still turned on, and the man hadn’t even taken his shoes off. It was clear he had fallen asleep there the night before. After much internal debate, the two assistants decided not to disturb the man. It was better not to risk getting fired, murdered, or worse. 

— —

“Breaking news; earlier today President Snoke announced his plans to increase the amount of prisoners held at Guantanamo.” Beebee Aight spoke in such a news anchor-y voice that Rey couldn’t help but let out a noise that was somewhere between a snort and a humourless cackle. “This comes as a complete surprise after a great number of his predecessors have aimed to do the exact opposite. Immediately following the president’s announcement, multiple vocal critics of the president have condemned him for this. Also many Snoke supporters have spoken up expressing their skepticism. Even Secretary of State, Kylo Ren, has expressed his apprehensions of the president’s proposal, tweeting; I was unaware of President Snoke’s plans concerning Guantanamo and find the plan most disquieting.” 

Rey couldn’t help but be surprised that Ren would ever speak up publicly against the president. He was the Secretary of State, after all. She also found it worrisome that Snoke would not approached Ren with this plan before making it public. Such policy decisions should always be discussed at length with the head of the State department. To not do so was virtually unheard of. Not that this was the first time Snoke had done things his way and not the right way. The man seemed to have no respect for protocol or tradition. 

Her phone rang and she immediately picked it up without even checking the caller. She assumed it was Luke or maybe even Leia. 

“Hello?” She said as she answered. 

“Rey, it’s me.” Kylo’s voice spoke from the other end. Had anyone seen Rey at that moment, they would have thought the woman had just had a stroke. 

“Kylo…” 

“Where are you?” 

“I’m in my apartment.” She said without even thinking it over. 

“D.C. or Philadelphia?” 

“D.C.” 

“I’ll be there in ten.” He said, and before Rey had the chance to respond, he had already hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are like candy. I like candy.  
> <3 thanks for reading


	10. Chapter 10

“I’ll be there in ten.” 

Rey did not know what to do. She had just been readying up for bed; she was in sweatpants and an old worn-out tank-top, her hair was in a wet messy bun atop her head; she did not look professional or respectable in the slightest. Her house was a mess, too. It doesn’t matter, a small voice in the back of her mind said. He has seen your house before and it’s always looked like this. He has also seen you many times before looking exactly the way you do now. But it did matter. They had not had an actual discussion for about a year now. 

A year… Had it truly been that long? She had been so busy that she hadn’t even registered time passing. But yes, it had been a year. Unbelievable… If you had asked her a year ago where she thought Kylo Ren would be about ten minutes from this moment, she would have probably guessed that she had murdered the man and they would be holding his funeral. She had been so mad at him. She had been so mad at him for so long. But now that she knew the man was on his way to meet her, something kept at her anger at bay. She could not find it within herself to start preparing for a fight. The more she thought about it, the more certain she became that she did not even want a fight. She wanted... She did not know what she wanted. 

There was too much to clean up to do it ten minutes. She also would not be able to make herself look representable in ten minutes. So she decided to do nothing. While her thoughts spread their wings and flew in all the directions possible, Rey simply sat down onto the couch and waited. Ten minutes passed although it felt like thirty minutes underwater. Rey was just beginning to wonder if Kylo had changed his mind about showing up when she heard a knock on the door. It took her just about two seconds to run to the door and rip it open. 

And there he was. For a fraction of a second he seemed surprised by how quickly she had opened the door, but then his facial expression changed to something resembling …normal. He wasn’t angry, he wasn’t sad, he didn’t look particularly happy or excited or anything. He just looked normal. Suddenly Rey wished she had changed her clothes. Ren was dressed in a black suit. He looked impeccable. A moment of nearly awkward silence passed between the two. 

“Are you going to invite me in or am I going to have to stand here all night?” He finally asked, and she quietly stepped out of his way so he could enter. As he did so, a small sad smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “I see this place hasn’t changed much since the last time we were here.” 

Rey could not help but feel secretly happy he was here. “Yeah, I, uh…” She said, scurrying to the living room area to pick up a dirty plate she had left on the floor some three days prior. “I still haven’t found the time to, uh, clean it… so…” 

“Rey.” He said and she stopped dead in her tracks while still holding the plate in her hands, turning to face the man once more. “It’s fine.” 

“Why are you here?” She asked, her voice considerably higher than usual. It was obvious in her voice and stance that she felt naked in front of him, and she wanted nothing more than to smack herself across the face for it. 

“You must have heard the news by now.” He simply said. His voice carried something resembling contained indignation. He stared at her with such intensity that under any other circumstances Rey would have wondered if the man had lost his ability to blink. 

“Guantanamo?” 

“Yeah.” He confirmed. 

They stood in somber silence for a few oppressive seconds until Rey spoke up, her voice weak yet demanding, “Did he really not tell you he was going to do that?” 

“I swear he never told me anything about it.” Kylo said with incredible resolve, and Rey believed him. “He hasn’t actually been telling me much of anything, lately.” 

“But you’re his Secretary of State.” Rey insisted. “He has to tell you what is going on.” 

“Well, he doesn’t.” Kylo responded a bit too quickly with a sharp edge of anger and bitterness in his voice. “He tells me absolutely nothing.”

“If not you then who?” She asked. “He couldn’t possibly be making all these decisions completely on his own. He needs a confidant!” 

“Hux.” Ren told her with a scowl on his face. “Everything goes through Hux.” 

“Fuck…” Rey let out an exasperated sigh, and put both her hands behind her neck. That psychopath… 

Ren laughed almost maliciously. “You don’t say. The man is as twisted as a corkscrew. We don’t want him making any important policy decisions. Those two assholes are giving my party a bad name. I won’t take it. We’re not them. We’re better. Snoke does not deserve to sit in the Oval Office.” 

“And still you work for him.” She said, her tone almost accusatory. 

“What choice do I have?” He said, now stomping around the room looking like an extremely large and abnormally loud shadow. “It’s either this or…” 

“Resign.” Rey offered. “You could run for a seat in the Senate like me. You could try Congress. You could win in almost every district. The people would vote for you.” 

“I don’t want to go back to the Senate. I spent years in that hellhole.” He almost spat as if the word senate in itself had been a curse. “And I fucking hate everyone in Congress. They are lying, back-stabbing sons of bitches every last one of them. I'm not saying I'm any better, you know the things I have done. But I am not going to run for Congress, Rey.” Then he stopped as the exact same thought entered his mind and Rey’s. They both thought it the same second. It was only a matter of which one of them would say it out-loud. 

It was Rey who did. “You could run for president.” 

“Do you think I could win?” He asked, his voice considerably less confident than before. He turned to face the small woman who was still standing there in the middle of the messy room with a filthy plate in her hands. 

“I think you’d be great.” She said, breathless, unable to believe those syllables fell from her lips. 

“Rey?” 

“Yes?” 

“I still love you.” 

— — 

“Breaking news; Secretary of State Kylo Ren resigns.” Beebee Aight’s news anchor voice echoed inside Leia and Han’s apartment. The two stared at the screen almost as if they were hypnotized. “This bombshell revelation comes in the wake of President Snoke’s decision to increase the amount of prisoners held in Guantanamo. Secretary Ren was reportedly never informed about this policy decision, and he cites it as one of the main reasons for his resignation.”

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Han asked Leia in a hushed voice. Never in a million years did he see this happening. Leia was too shocked to even answer and simply nodded her head a few times. 

“We have Kylo Ren here with us today.” Beebee Aight said as the camera panned over to reveal Ren sitting across the desk from Aight. “Welcome, Sir.” 

“Thank you for having me.” He said with a gentle smile and a charming tone. 

“Now, the last time we spoke was after you had given President Snoke your support while still in the Holdo administration.” Aight accosted Ren. “And now you resign less than a year into Snoke’s presidency. Would you please explain?” 

“Yes, of course.” Ren said without any anger or discontentment in his voice. “I was sincerely honored to work for President Holdo, but when the chance to continue working for Snoke came, I was convinced I was doing what was right for the country and necessary for a peaceful transition of power. However, after working for Holdo for four years, I knew what the White House felt like during her administration, and as Snoke took office, well, it became quite clear very quickly that the change had not been positive.” He shifted in his seat slightly. 

“And that made you want to resign?” Aight questioned him. 

“No, actually that was not the reason behind my resignation.” He explained himself. “I tried to do my job, I really did, but the president would not tell me what plans he had, he would not contact me with important issues concerning policy, and then there was the Guantanamo decision he made. It caught me off guard. I find it to be a terrible idea with real life consequences which could impact our nation’s standing in the greater global scheme of things.” 

“Was it easy resigning or did it take some thought?” Aight asked. 

“Of course it wasn’t easy.” Ren answered patiently. Leia could not help but look at him in awe; who would have known he could be so …likeable? “It took me weeks to come to finally come to this conclusion and take such radical action. But what were my choices? To continue working for an administration which did not only represent who I am and my values, but which also disregards the opinion of the public, and disrespects our democracy? No, I would not do that. It was extremely difficult to make this decision, but I do believe it was the right thing to do.” 

“This is unbelievable…” Han spoke only slightly above a hush. 

“I know.” Leia could finally muster. As the anchor and Ben continued their discussion on the screen, she turned to face her husband who was unable to tear his eyes away from the interview.

“When did this happen? When did he choose to do what his conscience told him to instead of grappling for power?” Han asked. This was not the Ben he had known. 

Leia drew in a breath and shook her head from side to side. She did not know. She did not know why Ben had resigned, she did not know what he planned to do next; she knew nothing. But she knew she was proud of him. “While we weren’t looking.” She finally spoke. 

— — 

About a month after Kylo Ren’s resignation, he was sitting in a quiet coffee shop with Poe Dameron. 

“You’re going to what?” Poe exclaimed at his long-time employer as Ren explained to him his plan to run for office. 

“I’m going to run for President.” Kylo repeated what he had already said to the man a dozen times. “And I am going to win. Meet Kylo Ren, your next president! Just you wait, and soon you’ll be working in the Ren administration.” 

“You’ve lost your mind.” Poe couldn’t hold his tongue. Instead of getting mad at the shorter man for his slip, Ren simply raised one questioning eyebrow. “I mean, it’s not even three years from now. The primaries are beginning less than two years from now. If you’re going to run, you’d better have a fund raiser or something planned out for immediately after you make these plans official.” 

“Well, why don’t you start planning it?” Ren asked him. 

Poe was flabbergasted. “Excuse me?” 

“You need to start planning the fund raiser while I start planning how to announce my plans in a way which will draw as much attention as possible.” Ren said, a ghost of a smile on his face. “Time to get to work. No time to waste.” And with that the man was practically flying out the door to the busy Washington D.C. streets. 

The man was out of his goddamn mind, Poe decided. All right. Time to get to work. 

— — 

Once more, the holidays were around the corner. Rey couldn’t believe it was that time again; was this an annual thing or something? She didn’t like the fact that Christmas required her going to church, but people and the media would notice if she wasn’t there. If there was one thing she had learned about politicians it was that they would not be elected in this country unless they believed in God. Or at least some god. There were no openly non-religious people in the Senate or Congress; there simply couldn’t be. Everyone was closeted. And thus, church. She hated the fact that she could not be completely honest with her constituents, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. She would simply do everything in her power to be a good person and an even better politician. That was her form of atonement. 

“What will you be doing on Christmas day?” Jessika asked Rey when they were planning a rally together. “I’ll be going down to Florida to visit my parents.” 

“Oh, I don’t know…” Rey said. “I think I’ll go to church in the morning, and then go home and watch some Netflix. It has been too long since I last had a day off.” 

Jessika hummed in agreement. “You never seem to take a proper break. Will you be seeing Mr Skywalker, Mrs Organa or anyone?” 

“I think they’ll be at the church.” Rey said. “Leia and Han are visiting Luke here in Philly for the holidays.” 

Jessika nodded. “What about after Christmas? What’ll you do then?” 

“I’ll be back to work pretty much as soon as December 26th rolls around.” Rey laughed. There was simply too much to plan for her not to start working as soon as she could. “But I think I’ll be going home now.” She said. “You should stop working for the night, too, Jess.” 

“I’ll just do this one more thing…” Jessika replied. “But you go right ahead; I’ll be right behind you.” 

When Rey finally got home, she was too tired to even keep her eyes open. She walked directly to the bed, flopped onto it face first, and fell asleep before her head even touched the pillow. At some point during the night, she woke up when her phone buzzed when she got a new message. It was from Kylo. It simply said ‘good night’. Was she supposed to be mad or not? She couldn’t decide. Okay, she could, she wasn’t mad even though he had woken her up. Instead she just sent him a good night text and made her way underneath the sheets. 

It had been a good day.


	11. It all flies by in the blink of an eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June passed. Then July. Then August. As the midterm elections kept approaching and one third of the seats in the Senate were up for grabs, everyone from Rey to Luke to Kylo to even the usually laid-back Han Solo found their blood-pressures rising. Jessika was certain her hair was going to turn grey before Rey would be sworn in.

The New Year brought with it the same old challenges and hardship Rey had dealt with the year before. The same work, the same exhaustion. When she worked every day and focused all of her energy on that work, time seemed to lose its significance completely. She could go for hours without as much as getting up from her desk. It was almost magical. Rey was already accustomed to starting her day around seven in the morning and working non-stop until someone would point out that it was four in the afternoon and she hadn’t eaten anything all day. That someone was usually Jessika, sometimes Luke, seldom Leia, and increasingly often it was a call from Kylo. He may have been in D.C. while she spent most her time in Philadelphia, but he didn’t have to see her working to know she forgot her meals more often than not. They had worked together for such a long time that he knew the way the woman was. 

Rey would then go on to eat a meal after which she would simply resume her work. She would write, give interviews, meet with donators and answer calls from her hopefully future constituents until… well, it was midnight. Then she’d drag her exhausted being to her makeshift home, sleep for five hours, rinse and repeat. This went on day in day out. She attended parties every now and then, had brunches and dinners with political activists and lobbyists, gave speeches, and went on MSNBC more often than was perhaps necessary. Somehow she had become one of President Snoke’s most vocal opponents. She wasn’t the most influential or powerful by any means, but her voice was heard clear and loud. 

Leia had publicly endorsed Rey for senator which had once again made some serious waves. Also, Leia had found out that Rey had once again started being friendly with Ben. They hadn’t exactly resumed whatever relationship they had had before their fallout, but they were in contact on a regular basis. That was, in Leia’s personal opinion, the smartest thing the young woman could have done. It was not only because Leia cared for both Rey and Ben and wanted them to be happy, but also because it was always useful to have friends on the other side of the isle. And Leia still thought Ben was going to be on the other side of the isle despite the fact that in perfect secrecy, Kylo Ren was organizing his campaign which he was going to officially announce once midterm elections were over. That would be about nine months from this moment forward. 

There were rumors out there as to what Ren may do in the future, but it seemed that no one had thought about the possibility he would run for president. Kylo couldn’t blame them for not picking up on it. He was considerably younger than most other candidates despite his undeniable experience and unrivalled competence. To be perfectly honest, even he had his doubts. That is why Rey had told him multiple times now that while she disagreed with his politics and a lot more, she could see him being a good head of state. 

“The world would be a considerably better place than it is now.” She had said one evening while the two of them were on the phone with one another. “You have some principles and while I vehemently disagree with almost everything you say, think, and do, I have to admit you’d make a good leader. If the people do elect you, that is.” 

“Well, people have elected me for public office before.” He had reminded her, rolling his eyes although he knew she couldn’t see it. He had a much wider base than Rey probably realized. “Albeit they weren’t the same people who elected you.” He continued which earned a chuckle from Rey. 

“You don’t say.” She said. There was some sound on clinging which got caught by the mic on her phone. 

Ren furrowed his brows. “What are you doing?” 

“I’ve started cleaning up.” Rey admitted. “It’s about time I get my surroundings in order. All this clutter is adding to my anxiety. I don’t need this drama in my life.” 

Ren smiled to himself as he looked over his shoulder just to see Poe Dameron practically drowning in all different color papers. The world had been completely turned upside down; Rey had decided to clean her apartment. He didn’t remember ever seeing her place when it wasn’t a complete disaster. Personally, he preferred cleanliness over cluttered mess. “How’s the campaign going?” 

Rey sighed deeply. “It’s good, it’s all good… A lot of stress, though. I had completely forgotten how much work running for senator was.” 

“Try running for president.” Kylo scoffed good-naturedly.

Rey laughed. “I’m sure you’re busy. I know I am. Jessika has already threatened to resign at least six times. Apparently I’m giving her way too much work.” 

“You should give the poor woman a raise; God knows she deserves it.” Ren instructed Rey while unbeknownst to him, she found one of his socks behind her sofa. How on earth had that gotten there? She was in Philadelphia! Ren had never been to her place in Philly, had he? 

“You should give me a raise…” Poe grumbled in the background which earned him a mean look from his employer.

Rey couldn’t hear that however, and so she continued “I would if I could afford to do so. Right now every penny is going towards my campaign. The election is approaching way too fast.” 

“You’ll get elected, don’t worry about it.” He said, continuing to stroll around the basement in which most of his campaign planning had taken place thus far. “Some people actually like your views. I don’t know who, but the polls I’ve seen indicate that those really people do exist.” 

“Gee, thanks.” She answered sarcastically, throwing the sock she had found in the garbage. He wouldn’t miss it. But she missed the trash can and had to walk over, pick it up, and put it in properly this time. “I don’t know who the hell would vote for you either.”

“Would you?” Kylo had been curious since the moment she had told him he’d make a great president.

“Absolutely, categorically, undoubtedly…” Rey said while attempting to wipe some dust off her hands as she balanced the phone between her ear and shoulder. “…no.” 

Kylo wasn’t hurt in the slightest. He had expected that. “Fair enough. I wouldn’t vote for you either.” 

“And I am not going to officially endorse you.” Rey said. “You would be so smug about it and I don’t want to have to deal with that. But just between you and me… I’d rather see you in the White House than that Texan Democrat who announced his campaign earlier this week. I mean, he says he’s a liberal democrat, but I think deep down he’s more Republican than you are. Which simply means that he’s made an enormous mistake running as a Democrat. Now he won’t win for sure!”

In D.C. Ren was grinning to himself like an idiot. “Listen, I’ve got to get back to work.” He said finally although that was the last thing he wanted to do. “I’ll call you again once I care to. And if you need anything…” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine.” Rey said, added a quick farewell and hung up. Then she put the phone onto the table top beside her, bending down to pick up an empty beer bottle from the floor and accidentally knocking over the trash can behind her, which graciously spilled its insides onto the floor. “For fuck’s sake!” Why was cleaning up so hard? 

— — 

By April, Jessika was tired of co-ordinating Rey’s endless meetings. The senator-to-be had to meet with everyone in the world, it seemed. She needed to meet the mayor, she needed to meet lobbyists, and she needed to meet donators who were not particularly stingy, it turned out. That was definitely a bonus. They could afford to run campaign adds on television, no problem, and Jessika even got the raise she had been not-so-secretly hoping for. She knew that Miss Kenobi was doing her best to keep her staff happy, and it was working. Morale was high and people truly believed they could do it. There were only a few months left until the elections. Some states had already had elections, and it seemed like an even split between Democrats and Republicans. No one party was dominating unlike in the previous elections when Republicans had gained the greatest majority in the Senate for the last fifty years. No, this time they truly had a chance of winning. That didn’t make Jessika any less tired, though. 

“It’s only a few more months. We can do it, but only if we work together.” Miss Kenobi had told her when she had expressed her exhaustion one day. Or two days. Okay, maybe five days a week for the last three months, but that was beside the point. “I need you by my side.” Kenobi had said, taking hold of Jessika’s shoulders. “Do you even know how much I appreciate the work you do? Without you, I wouldn’t have gotten half the things done I did in the West Wing. You are the best assistant I have ever had and there have been many. I need you to keep working. I can’t do this without you.” 

It had been so great to hear Miss Kenobi say those words. Jessika had always known that the other woman appreciated her, but sometimes that was easily forgotten under the stress that was daily life in the middle of a never-ending political hurricane. She could do a few more months. If Kenobi could do a few more months, this couldn’t be that bad. Right?

— — 

June passed. Then July. Then August. As the midterm elections kept approaching and one third of the seats in the Senate were up for grabs, everyone from Rey to Luke to Kylo to even the usually laid-back Han Solo found their blood-pressures rising. Jessika was certain her hair was going to turn grey before Rey would be sworn in. Luke was positive that the reason he had been gaining weight was the sheer pressure of being Rey’s main source mental support during the last few months of the Senate race, and Han was stressed out simply because his wife had decided to get herself involved in all of this nonsense once again. She joined Rey in rallies and spoke with multiple news outlets about how she wholeheartedly endorsed Rey Kenobi. 

Everyone was involved. If they lost, this would reflect negatively on all of them. However, as the election itself grew nearer and nearer, it became more and more obvious that Rey was going to win her district beyond any doubt. It was a great relief and lifted everyone’s spirits. Finally, as the election day came, and Rey beat the other main candidate running in her district (who, by the way, was Unklar Plutt), there was a great party hosted in her honor at a nearby venue in Philadelphia. There was food and drinks for all those who came, most of whom were Congressmen, lobbyists, and important donators. 

“Let’s all welcome our new Senator; Senator Rey Kenobi!” Leia introduced her and the crowd cheered. As Rey walked on to the stage, she immediately knew that about half the members of Congress who had showed up, had simply showed up out of necessity. There were some who truly supported her, like Congresswoman Rose Tico and Congressman Cassian, but others… Well, they didn’t matter, did they? 

“Thank you, Mrs Organa.” Rey spoke. “We did it!” She said, throwing her hands up in the air which earned her another round of applause. “We did it… And it truly was we who did it, not me. I have had the most amazing team working with me. I have had the greatest supporters and the most generous donators. I couldn’t be here today, tonight, if these people would not have had faith in me, and had not sacrificed countless of hours of valuable sleeping time to instead sit through meeting after meeting after meeting - even when it seemed like nothing would come of it.” Rey truly hated giving speeches. They were always so grandiose. You couldn’t simply just say thank you to everyone and be done with it. The people who had worked for her, actually worked for her, already knew exactly how much she appreciated them. This speech was simply catering to those who wished to believe they had had something to do with getting Rey elected. 

“I wish to make it clear that I stand here before you now because of you.” She said gesturing towards the audience with both her hands and fake tears in her eyes. “And I will work for you as tirelessly as you have done for me. I will do everything in my power to make sure you will not be disappointed. All I do and everything I am… It is all for you. Thank you.” 

The crowd applauded. They had to. Of course they had to; she had won. She doubted that even half of these people had actually voted for her. But that was unimportant. She was given a glass of Champagne, and the rest of the night was spent shaking hands with so many people that in the morning her wrist ached. 

— —

When they had been on top of the food chain, life had been easy and peaceful, Jessika learned quickly after Rey Kenobi was elected in the Senate. They had been able to simply focus on their jobs without having to worry much about the behind-the-scenes drama which was always unfolding in Senate and Congress. But they were among the wolves now, as Senator Kenobi had put it. Now they were among the wolves and, as it turned out, the wolves were hungry. 

“Keep to yourself.” Senator Kenobi had told her when Jessika had come to work one morning. “Keep your head down; tell no one who I’m meeting, tell no one where I’m going, tell no one when, tell no one how. Do you think you can do this?” 

“Of course, but why?” Jessika had asked. It was strange; she had always told Poe and Ren, almost everyone to be honest, where her employer was at any given moment. Senator Kenobi sighed deeply. 

“This is why I preferred the West Wing so much… It wasn’t perfect but at least it wasn’t this.” She said. Jessika was utterly confused, and Senator Kenobi quickly noticed the woman’s uncertainty. “You see, these Senators are ready to kill if that benefits their political agenda. They would mutilate and murder in cold blood anyone who stands in their way. If they get dirt on me, which there isn’t much of, they’ll hang me out to dry before you can even say the word ‘impeachment’.”

“So you want to get dirt on them instead?” Jessika asked, still confused. 

“I don’t want to play this game.” Senator Kenobi said, her voice and facial expression sour. “I don’t have time for this game. I don’t have time to dig into their pasts and presents… I don’t have the time, the energy, nor the inclination.” 

“No dirt, then?” Jessika was intrigued yet even more confused than before. 

“That’s not what I said.” Senator Kenobi simply replied, but before Jessika could ask her what she had said, the woman was already out the door and chatting to a House Representative from Vermont. 

Once again, Jessika found herself praying to God that this time around she’d get at least a bonus or something. Working with politicians was not only highly stressful but also damn near impossible. What on Earth was wrong with them? 

\-- -- 

Rey woke up one night in November to a text message. It was from Kylo. It said "Happy 37th birthday, Senator Kenobi!". Rey could feel her stomach sinking. She had not thought about her age for a long time. As far as politicians go, she was one of the youngest, but 37? That was almost 40... Not only was she going to be 40 in three years, she was unmarried and had no family. Rey had dedicated her entire life to her career, but now as she lay there in the silent dead of night, she thought forward to the time when she would no longer be Senator Kenobi. To the time she would be retired like Leia... Leia had Han. Leia had Luke. Who did Rey have?


	12. George Washington

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia Organa was sitting in a coffee shop, extremely nervous. Her son had called her for the first time in a long time, and suggested the two of them meet and talk things out. Leia knew this had something and everything to do with Ben running for President, but that didn’t matter to her. Not really. What did matter, however, was that she was going to see her son without having to worry about him running away because of one wrong word or tone of voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Normal life is slowing me down but I'll still try to update as often as possible <3 you guys are the best!

“Breaking news; ex-Secretary of State, Kylo Ren, announces the launch of his campaign to run for president in the next presidential election which will take place two years from now.” The TV in Rey’s new office blasted. This was the news of the day, it seemed. No, this was the news of the week. This was what they were going to be talking about non-stop for the next month, it seemed like. “This relatively young yet seasoned politician has served as Secretary of State first under President Holdo and then for less than a year under President Snoke. He has also served three terms in the Senate, and has a strong Republican backing. For more news on this we turn to our political correspondent in D.C. Jim?” 

“Yes, the news has broken…” The man named Jim continued blabbering on. “It has come as a great surprise to almost everyone…” 

To Rey’s great amusement, it seemed like the whole world was going haywire over the announcement. She had gotten about three million phone calls from Luke and Leia just this morning alone, and about two billion messages from all the major news agencies begging for a comment, and roughly a trillion emails from members of Congress and Senate. Everyone was freaking out, especially every member of the D.N.C. They knew that beating Ren was going to be no easy feat. The G.O.P on the other hand…they were celebrating. 

They were celebrating because they knew as well as anyone that Ren was loved by the public. He had been a very good Secretary of State for President Holdo, and when things had started getting increasingly worse with Snoke, he had left with a bang and thus cleared his name of the stigma associated with Snoke’s. Also, Snoke was indeed currently not very loved by anyone. The G.O.P. had been worried that they would not have anyone suitable and good for the party’s imago running against the President. But now they did, and it was truly reason enough to celebrate. 

But there was someone who was most definitely not celebrating, and that someone was none other than President Snoke. He had refused to issue a statement but that did not matter; it was clear from his silence that the president was livid. 

All the while this chaos was unraveling, Rey was simply sitting in her office watching the news and sipping on a cup of coffee. If Ren knew anything, that was how to market himself. As of right now, he had that “underdog against the big bad evil dude” type of thing going on. And the media was eating it up. The people were hanging on his every word. His face was indelibly plastered on every TV screen across America and beyond. Many important faces and names in modern politics were flocking to endorse him. Undoubtedly trying to get into his good graces, Rey thought. Leaches. 

Rey reached for her phone which was laying on her desk and quickly sent the presidential candidate a quick text which simply said “Well played.” 

— — 

Leia Organa was sitting in a coffee shop, extremely nervous. Her son had called her for the first time in a long time, and suggested the two of them meet and talk things out. Leia knew this had something and everything to do with Ben running for President, but that didn’t matter to her. Not really. What did matter, however, was that she was going to see her son without having to worry about him running away because of one wrong word or tone of voice. 

The bell which indicated that someone had opened the door rang as Kylo Ren stepped into the shop. He quickly greeted the staff before noticing his mother at one of the tables and walking over to her. He second-guessed his decision to come here. To be perfectly honest, he had done it on a whim. Their feud was not particularly public so it was unlikely to affect his polls or the amount of people who would vote for him, but it was a thing which could be used against him, if it ever were to be made public. 

“Mother…” He greeted Leia who was fighting back the brightest smile her son would have ever seen. 

“Ben, it is so good to see you.” She answered as Kylo sat to the seat opposite hers. “I’ve heard you’re running for president.” She said without being able to hold in a chuckle. What phrase. 

“What do you find so funny about it?” He asked, suddenly feeling extremely defensive. 

“Nothing, it’s just…” She let her voice return to normal. “You’re my son. And you’re running for president. I was in the Senate for most your childhood; I would have thought you’d want absolutely nothing to do with politics when you made your career choice.” 

“You thought I’d be more like my father.” He understood what she had not said out-loud. 

She nodded briefly. “Yes, I did. You always said you wanted to be a pilot. You said you wanted to join him when he and Chewie left to wherever they went.” 

“But here we are.” Kylo simply said. He didn’t really even want to think about his childhood. It hadn’t been a very good one. His parents had never been there when he’d needed them. First he had been taken care of by whatever nurses and babysitters Leia had hired, and then he had been sent to live with his uncle. He did not want to think about it. Being tossed around from place to place as a child, he had always felt unwanted. Now he had crowds cheering his name. Not the name his parents had given him, not the name of the man they had wished he’d become, the vessel for their legacy, no. They cheered his name. The name he had given himself when he had decided who he wanted to become. 

“Yes.” Leia agreed. “Here we are.” Then they were both silent for a moment. It wasn’t an awkward silence as much as it was the silence of two people who knew all too well that you could never turn back time. Decisions could not be unmade. Things would never be perfect. “I heard that you have some sort of rapport with Rey once more.” 

He knew his mother had met the woman during some point the year before. How close the two were, he couldn’t even begin to guess. “Yes, we have spoken a few times in recent weeks.” He simply said. 

“She really does care about you, you know.” Leia said, catching Kylo off-guard. “I don’t think she’d tell you that, but she’s been much happier since you’ve been interacting again.” 

“I doubt she’d appreciate you telling me that.” Kylo said, but secretly he felt very pleased. 

“Yes, she probably wouldn’t.” Leia agreed. “But it is the truth. I do not know the exact nature of your relationship, but I can see that you truly do make her a bit happier. And that is all I need to know.” 

Kylo furrowed his brows. His mother knew more than she let on. He could see it in her eyes. She thought they were sleeping together. Again. That was …not entirely accurate. “You think we are romantically involved.” 

“There have been rumors.” She admitted. She had once, quite a long time ago, overheard Jessika talking once with a dark haired man with a stunning smile about how she missed the good old times of when ‘they would just sleep with one another instead of this ridiculous sulking and moping’. 

“I assure you, there is nothing going on you need to be aware of.” Kylo assured his mother. 

Leia lifted her eyebrows. “You know, we may not have the greatest relationship, but I am still your mother. Don’t lie to me, Ben.” Then she got up from her seat and started heading for the door. “I wouldn’t mind it, anyway. Rey is a very nice girl who is also great at her job. I like her a lot.” Then she turned once more to face her son and said with a sad smile on her face “And even you are a better man than you give yourself credit for.” 

— — 

Now that Rey and Kylo were both in Washington D.C., they could meet each other more regularly, and quickly Rey found herself forgiving Kylo for his past mistakes. She started seeing the situation from his point of view, also. That didn’t mean that she agreed with his decisions, but at least now she found herself able to empathize with them. The man had spent his entire life and sacrificed so much to be where he had been. Letting all of that do must have been very difficult for him. One time when they had been having lunch together when Rey didn’t have work, he had told her that he had wanted to resign before Rey had suggested it, but it had taken her actually putting it into words before he had been able to take that first step. 

It was unfortunate that they both had so much on their plates; had they been less preoccupied with work, they would have been able to spend much more time together. But instead Kylo spent most of his waking days gathering funds and support for his campaign while Rey tried to pass legislation and not be politically murdered by her coworkers. Kylo’s campaign had been getting extensive media coverage, and he was already on of the front runners in the race. It wasn’t certain he’d win, and he didn’t want to count on it quite yet, but it wasn’t looking too bad. Snoke was pissed, but that was none of his concern. What could the man do except sulk and talk smack about him? That was unlikely to have much effect on Kylo. He was set. 

— — 

Rey was walking down the corridor late one night when she heard a few of the other Senators’ assistants gossiping right around the corner. She knew she should have kept walking without taking a break to listen to them, but instead she stopped and hid right behind the corner to hear what they had to say. Their voices were both female, and while Rey could not see their faces, she still had a pretty good guess as to who the two were, even though she did not know their names. 

“…running for president.” One of the women said. “I mean, please, God! Give me some of that!”

“Well, if you ever do get some of that, you are going to have to share. If you know what I mean!” The other woman answered and both giggled as if they were middle schoolers gushing over a boy. Who were they even talking about? Only a dozen or so people were currently officially running for president, and… Oh. The women were talking about Kylo. Rey shouldn’t have been surprised but she was. She shouldn’t have been mad or jealous, but she was both. In fact, she could feel her blood boil. 

“But no!” The first woman continued. “Instead I’m stuck with Congresswoman Tico all day! She’s not even that important that she’d ever be made a Secretary of anything! I wanna get closer to power, you know?” 

“Mhm, a man with real influence…” The other one agreed. She continued but Rey didn’t stay to listen. She was angry at them, she was angry at Ren, and most importantly she was angry at herself for being angry in the first place. Kylo didn’t even know the women’s names, for crying out-loud! Also, Kylo and Rey weren’t even an item. And still as Rey walked through the almost empty hallways, she felt sick to her stomach. Hadn’t he told her he loved her? Even after all this time? 

Rey had turned around and was now all but running into her office, slamming the door shut, and picked up the phone to call Kylo. She stood there, leaning on her desk, holding the phone against her ear for what felt like an eternity. When someone finally answered, it was not Kylo; it was Poe and he sounded absolutely panicked. Hysterical, nearly. 

“Rey… Uh, I think you should come over; there has been an emergency.” Poe said absolutely immediately after picking up. Rey got that sinking feeling in her stomach, the one you sometimes get when you just know everything is not all right. All thoughts of the women from earlier disappeared from her mind, as everything she could think of was that something was seriously wrong.

“And where exactly are you?” Rey asked, her voice strained as she was already well on her way out of the office. 

“George Washington University Hospital.” Poe said, his voice slightly unsteady. “Emergency room.”


	13. Headlines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, but I think it does the job XX

Kylo Ren was going to be giving an important speech this evening. It was important for more reasons than one; first of all, it was important because all the major donators were going to be present assessing his charisma and eloquence; secondly, there was going to be a ton of media coverage as everyone wanted to hear what he had to say about Snoke; and lastly, it was his biggest chance so far to explain what he would bring to the table as president. If he played his cards right, this could be a true turning point for his campaign. And if he played his cards wrong, well… This could be the end of him. If this got no coverage after tonight, he would have failed. 

“Do you think it’s going to go well?” Kylo asked himself in the mirror while straightening his tie. 

“You’ll do fine.” Poe Dameron said as he entered the room where Kylo was getting ready. “There are already people waiting outside. They will find anything you say to be of infinite wisdom and unparalleled importance.”

“Thank you for the encouragement, Dameron.” Kylo simply scoffed, turning away from the mirror. “I can’t help but be a little worried about tonight, though; this speech is so important.” 

Dameron crossed his arms, sitting on a nearby table in the room. “And you think it’s not going to go well?” 

“I don’t know.” Kylo replied honestly. “I have a bad feeling about this.” 

“Well, you better get rid of that feeling because the speech is beginning in fifteen.” Poe said, rolling his eyes. For being a cocky son of a …Senator, his boss could be quite insecure at times when it mattered the most. 

The next ten minutes passed in complete silence between the two men. Poe wished to assure Kylo that everything would go just fine, but could not find the words to say. Kylo simply wished he would not have to say another word for the whole night, while knowing perfectly well that soon he would be speaking in front of a crowd of a thousand people. It wasn’t exactly an exclusive event, but he needed to portray himself as the man of the people in order to secure more votes. 

Soon one of Ren’s staff members popped up in the room. “Sir” He said “It’s time for your speech.” 

Okay… Kylo thought. Showtime. Hold your head up, good posture, pleasant smile. Crack a few jokes, make them feel good, and then start the speech. It’s already at the podium. Fuck, you’ve memorized it. Just go. Make ‘em love you. 

As Kylo stepped onto the stage, he was immediately bombarded by a deafening round of applause from the people looking up at him. He could hardly make out the face of any one in particular, and all he could tell was that there were more people than he would have liked, but less than he would have needed. 

“Thank you, thank you.” Kylo said as he adjusted the microphone which was attached to the podium. If he could remember correctly, he had asked for a mic he could carry with him as he walked around the stage, but someone must have forgotten. It was nothing to get particularly angry about. 

“Thank you all for coming this evening.” He greeted the cheering crowd once more. It was unfortunate that it was this late in the day; the sun was already beginning to set, which meant that the view was quite a bit darker than Kylo would have liked. He could see the small red dots on the cameras which were filming every movement he made. “I am very glad to be here in D.C. tonight for this crucial moment in my campaign. There is nowhere else in the world I’d rather be.” He spoke. “Except maybe home watching Game of Thrones, but let’s be honest, so would every single one of you, as well.” This earned him quite a few chuckles. He was getting back into the groove of public speaking. Whatever apprehensions he may have had moments prior, well, they were all gone.

Kylo continued his well-rehearsed speech for only about ten minutes before he noticed that there was something wrong. There was suspicious movement in the audience. At first he had thought someone was leaving, but that didn’t seem to be the case. What on Earth was going on? He wondered to himself as he continued talking about tax cuts and how horrible of a president Snoke was. It couldn’t be anything that important, he decided, turning his attention back to appeasing his audience. The speech was going well in his opinion. 

“Get down!” Poe Dameron’s roaring voice rang in Kylo’s ears. Kylo turned to face his assistant, but just as his eyes met those of Dameron’s, there was a chorus of screams which erupted from the crowd below. Unconsciously, Kylo took one step back, turning his attention to the ocean of terrified faces scurrying away from the man now standing directly in front of him, pointing a pistol at him. It all happened in the blink of an eye. There was a gunshot and then there was a flash of white after which Kylo’s world and vision went black. The last thing he heard was Rey’s voice telling him to wake up. 

— — 

Rey had never felt so lost in her life, and she wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with the feeling. It was as if the ground underneath her feet had disappeared as she ran from a taxi to the hospital which now held the man she wanted to see more than anything in the world. There was a crowd beginning to gather outside the building and security was keeping most everyone out. Somehow she succeeded in appealing to one of the guards, who graciously let her through. As she was led through the hospital corridors, she felt as if the air in her lungs had become heavier and more difficult to breathe. She felt like she was the one dying, but at the same time it didn’t feel real. It felt like a bad dream. It felt like a different life.

As she finally saw Poe Dameron, the man looked more broken than ever before. Beside him, stood Finn who was holding the assistant’s shoulders with both hands. Finn was clearly comforting the man as best as he could. Chances were that Poe at least partially blamed himself for what had happened. As Poe noticed Rey, he broke away from Finn’s grasp and headed straight to her. 

“I didn’t notice it.” He promised her, almost begging. “I didn’t notice him until it was too late.” 

Rey couldn’t bring herself to assure the man that she believed him. The only words that came out were “Where is he?” 

Poe placed a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to look at his face. “The doctors are operating on him; they’re not letting anyone in. It’s a miracle they even let you in this hospital.” 

“How serious is it?” She asked, tears filling her eyes, not yet spilling over onto her flushed cheeks. 

The man didn’t know what to say. “I saw the bullet hit him, Rey. I saw blood. I saw him taken away. But I don’t know anything more than that.” 

Rey closed her eyes and finally the tears fell. How much time had she wasted? How much more time could she have had with the man had she not been so focused on her career? So focused on his mistakes? Suddenly none of it mattered. It didn’t matter who sat in the Oval Office. It didn’t matter who was Senator, Congressman or Mayor. It was all a distraction. Life went on while they played their little games, trying to get more power and influence. People would live despite them. People would die. 

Would he die? 

Rey let her hands rise up to cover her face. Please don’t leave me, she thought. Her breathing was ragged, her heart ached. It was pain she felt. It was all-encompassing, all-consuming pain. Agony. It was every fear she had ever had combined into one excruciating moment of terror, hurt, and quandary. She had never felt so afraid for the wellbeing of another human being in her life. Why wasn’t it her instead? Why couldn’t it be her instead? 

— —

When he finally woke up, he didn’t know where he was. The room was so white and bright that it blinded him temporarily. Was he in his apartment? What the Hell was going on? Then the memories came crushing down on him as if someone had opened the flood gates. He was shot. But he was not in pain now. Why wasn’t he in pain? Was he dead? For a few seconds he considered the possibility that he had died and gone to Heaven, but then he heard her voice call out his name. She sounded heartbroken. Suddenly he did not give a crap about heaven, all he wanted was to see her. 

“Rey…” He groaned, his vision still blurry. 

“You need to lay down and be quiet.” An unfamiliar female voice told him. “Your friends will visit you shortly.” Wasn’t she here? He was certain he’d heard her voice… But as his vision started becoming less and less blurry, he discovered that he was in a hospital bed, hooked up to some machines he understood nothing about, and there was no one with him. His head was swimming. He couldn’t concentrate on anything. He couldn’t really feel anything. 

Kylo did not know how much time passed between the moment he woke up and the moment Rey, Poe, and Finn were finally let in the room. All he knew was that Poe looked at him with guilt in his eyes, Finn looked at him with relief, and Rey couldn’t seem to stop crying. Was it that bad? He was alive, wasn’t he? He wanted to say something, and to assure the three that he was alright, that he wasn’t in any pain, but his lips refused to move. Then the nurse came, shooed his visitors away, and gave him some medicine which made him incredibly sleepy. Kylo welcomed the darkness, and drifted away. 

— — 

When he woke up the next time, his vision wasn’t as blurry but the pain was overwhelming. It felt as if his entire body had been set on fire. Whatever painkillers they had pumped into him had obviously worn off. He wasn’t even certain how long he had been out. A few hours? A day? A week? For all he knew, it could have been a year - he had no conception of the time which had passed. Kylo attempted to sit up in his hospital bed, but the scorching pain which shot through his body when he moved quickly convinced him to stay still. Instead, he simply let out a long ragged breath. 

“You definitely know how to make headlines.” Rey’s voice suddenly alerted him of her presence in the otherwise uncrowded room. Kylo couldn’t turn his head to face her, but she was kind enough to move into his field of vision. “Assassination attempt! The media is going crazy.” 

“Someone tried to kill me?” Kylo asked. 

She looked at him for a while and nodded carefully. “They’re not sure if the man was acting alone or if someone else was behind it, but yeah. You got shot.” 

Kylo chuckled a little. “I remember that much. Lucky for me, I'm alive!” 

Rey smiled at him, but said nothing, and her smile wasn’t happy; it was incredibly sorrowful. “What is it?” He asked, worried for her. 

“I love you.”


	14. Butterflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One day Jessika and Secretary Kenobi had been having lunch together before a Senate hearing, and Jessika couldn’t help but realize how her employer was practically glowing. She was smiling constantly, laughing more than usual, and simply being much more pleasant to be around than before. It was different, sure, but a good kind of different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for reading and commenting and leaving kudos <3 
> 
> And a very special shoutout to kat for creating this awesome moodboard! You guys should go check it out; it's wondeful <333
> 
> http://kylomalfoys.tumblr.com/post/171901636873/reylo-fanfiction-moodboard-office-politics

It took about a week for the doctors to let Kylo Ren out of the hospital. The bullet had entered his body just above the hip, which definitely slowed down his walking. Also, as he had fallen down after the bullet had hit him, his head had hit the podium, which had left him with a deep cut across his face. Rey told him it would definitely scar. Kylo was just happy he hadn’t lost an eye. But that wasn’t the only effect that the assassination attempt had ended up having; he got extensive news coverage. Naturally. People were quite unlikely to see a presidential candidate almost get murdered mid speech and go “yeah, this normally happens”. When Kylo had given an interview quite soon after being discharged from the hospital, millions of people had tuned in to watch it and to listen to him. His popularity in polls had risen dramatically, to top it all off. He did not know who was behind the assassination attempt, but had he known he might have just sent them a thank you card. But also, there was Rey. 

When Rey had told Kylo she loved him, he had thought he was hallucinating. However, since then Rey had been much more forthcoming about her feelings for him than ever before, and the two of them had started …well, dating, essentially. They hadn’t exactly defined the nature of their relationship, but it was clear to both of them that this was something serious. And although it wasn’t easy to find time to spend together when Rey spent her days in the Senate and Kylo was on the campaign trail, they tried their very best. They had at first tried to keep it a secret even from their nearest and dearest, but it took about two seconds for Jessika and Poe to realize what was going on. And then Finn was informed, although he wasn’t surprised. Leia figured everything out on her own, which was hardly surprising, although this meant that Han also knew now. Luke was still as oblivious as ever. 

And Rey was very happy. She was truly happy for the first time in a really long time. It was not easy balancing work with a budding romance with a presidential candidate, but she couldn’t remember ever being more happy with her life. This happiness also reflected onto her work. She felt like she could get things done far more efficiently now than before. It was amazing to see the effects of her new positive mindset. It wasn’t only making life easier for her, it was also making life easier for those around her. Jessika in particular. 

One day Jessika and Secretary Kenobi had been having lunch together before a Senate hearing, and Jessika couldn’t help but realize how her employer was practically glowing. She was smiling constantly, laughing more than usual, and simply being much more pleasant to be around than before. It was different, sure, but a good kind of different. 

“…but I don’t think it will pass.” Rey had been explaining something about an infrastructure bill, while grinning from ear to ear. “And I’m not entirely certain it should. If it doesn’t, it will absolutely piss off the Senate Republicans.” She kept yapping away. “You know that when Kylo was in the Senate…” And the woman kept talking. Jessika could only barely resist the urge to roll her eyes. If there was one unfortunate side-effect of Rey falling in love, it was this. She could not stop talking about the guy! 

“Weren’t you two in the Senate at the same time?” Jessika asked. “At some point?” 

“Yes, we were. That was before you became my assistant, so I guess you don't know what it was like...” Rey said, and her smiled widened if that was even possible at this point. “I’m not trying to say that your life has been easy while you’ve worked for me, but you should truly pity your predecessor. It was hell for him. Kylo and I used to fight constantly.” 

“Used to? Past tense? Are you sure?” Jessika interrupted with a small grin. 

“We don’t fight that much anymore.” Rey defended herself. This time Jessika could not resist the urge to roll her eyes. 

“If I remember correctly, it was just this week that you fought over which one of you got which black ballpoint-pen.” Jessika reminded her. There had been two ballpoint-pens available at a restaurant that Jessika, Poe, Rey, and Kylo had been dining at. In the middle of a conversation, the two politicians had suddenly wanted to start making notes - to try and later refute the other’s points, no doubt - so the two had gotten the pens. And then they had started fighting over which one of them got which pen because they both wanted the same one. 

“They were different shades of black!” Rey exclaimed, throwing her hands slightly in the air. “The one he gave me was way lighter; it was less black and more grey, seriously!”

Again, Jessika questioned as to why anyone (more specifically Jessika) would ever have decided to work with politicians. She had thought it would be a peaceful yet stressful, and mature environment full of intelligent conversation. She had been so wrong. It was stressful, childish, and just stupid pointless bickering. At least when you had to deal with Rey and Kylo. 

“I didn’t as why you fought, I just pointed out that you haven’t stopped fighting.” Jessika said, taking a sip of water from her glass. The glass was definitely half empty. For sure. 

“Yeah, but we don’t fight as much as we used to.” Rey said, smiling down at her plate. “I mean, when we first met, he drove me crazy. I had never met someone I hated that much. Or not hated, but… Someone I simply couldn’t reason with. Mostly because we valued different things. He worked always for what he thought to be what we should be striving towards, while I thought his ideas were completely ludicrous.” 

“When did you guys first meet?” Jessika asked. She honestly did not know. “Was it in the Senate?” 

Rey chuckled, swirling the fork in her hand. “No, it actually wasn’t. The first time we met, Kylo had just begun running for the second time, so he must have been in his early thirties. I was still in University. I went to Harvard, by the way. But anyway… uh, he came to Harvard to give a speech to us who were studying political sciences at the time. I listen to him and decided that this man was insane. He had it all backwards. And so once he had finished his lecture, I was one of the students who asked him questions.” Senator Kenobi was obviously recalling everything that had happened that day. 

“What did you ask him?” Jessika asked, genuinely curious. 

“I said to him; ‘Senator, how can you truly believe trickle-down economics could ever benefit the middle class? Are you out of your mind or are you just lying to us? Please, tell us. I would rather you told me now that you are simply fooling us for your own benefit than hear you say you truly and honestly believe this works. At least then we’d know you understand the first thing about the way the economy works.’” Rey practically laughed. “We ended up having a fifteen-minute debate in front of everyone in my year until my professor drove me out of the room. I thought that would be the end of it, to be honest.” 

“You thought that would be the end of it?” Jessika was baffled imagining a young Rey Kenobi defying a Senate Republican in front of her peers. “It wasn’t?” 

“No, it wasn’t.” Rey said. “It turned out that after the entire thing was over, the professor went to apologize to Kylo for my bad behavior. However, Kylo had not been insulted and actually requested for my contact information. He ended up reaching out to me that same week. We met for coffee and discussed the issue at length. After that I still hated his politics but I could no longer hate the man.” 

Jessika smiled. “Did you continue being in touch after that?” 

“No, we didn’t.” Rey said. “We didn’t meet again until I was sworn in. That was a few years after we had first met. He actually came to congratulate me and help me carry my stuff into my office.” 

“Have either of you ever changed your opinions because of the other person?” Jessika asked, once again genuinely curious. “You’re both really headstrong and don’t seem like the types to compromise.” 

Rey nodded furiously. “Many times. Both of us have come around to the other’s point of view more times than I can count. I was very unwilling to do so at first because I thought that changing my mind would indicate weakness, but when I saw Kylo do it… it only made me respect him more. It wasn’t weakness; it was strength. It was a principle. He would rather change his mind than keep his bad logic. I started doing the same; now I choose whatever side has the better argument. I used to follow emotion, but now I lean on evidence; it’s much easier to defend your views when they have a basis in objective reality.” 

“But you still disagree on everything.” Jessika pointed out. 

“Not everything.” Rey corrected. “We disagree on a lot of things, yes, but hardly everything. It’s hyperbola to say ‘everything’. We both care about wellbeing; we simply disagree on how to achieve it.” 

Jessika understood her meaning. “I’ve always wondered, how did you two… start dating? The first time around?” 

This caught Rey off-guard. “I didn’t know you knew…”

“Of course! Of course I knew!” Jessika simply exclaimed. For such a smart woman, Rey could be incredibly dense at times. “I was the one who dealt with all your bullshit of course I would know if you had an affair with the Secretary of fucking State!” 

Rey blushed ever so slightly. Jessika found it a strange sight. “We… okay, we had a fight.” 

“Highly unsurprising.” Jessika quipped. 

“We had a fight about healthcare.” Rey continued. “But it wasn’t the biggest fight we’ve ever had. And so it turned into more of a debate, so we decided to continue it over drinks at my place. We ended up drinking a lot more than we had anticipated. And I accidentally admitted that I found him very attractive.” In reality she had used much more descriptive and vulgar language, but she wasn’t going to tell Jessika that. “After which he proceeded to tell me I was drunk off my ass and needed to go to bed immediately. Which I did. Next morning I woke up, I was kind of ashamed. I thought he had completely turned me down. I went to the kitchen to drink some water, and instead of finding my house empty, he was sleeping on the couch. Which made me even more ashamed. But when he woke up, he asked me if I still found him attractive when I wasn’t drunk. I simply thought; fuck it, I’ve nothing to lose. And I said yes.” 

“What did he say?” Jessika was intrigued. 

“Nothing.” Rey answered honestly. “Instead he kissed me.” 

Jessika did not know how to feel. “Would you have preferred it, if he had instead, I don’t know, asked you out on a date or simply said he felt the same way?” 

Rey shook her head with a small smile on her face. “He has always been a man of action which I actually found very refreshing. And let’s be honest, Kylo doesn’t exactly have a way with words when it comes to me. He tends to humiliate me when he tries to complement me, and to anger me when he tries to calm me down.” 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Jessika laughed. “How could you accept the views and actions of someone so different from yourself, though?” 

Rey shrugged. “There’s no mystery to it; it’s just love.” 

There were some very important things Rey was omitting from her story. She would never tell anyone the first time she looked at Kylo and got those butterflies in her stomach. She’d never even tell him. That’s because she wasn’t supposed to know that ever happened. 

It had been a normal day in the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. Or at least as it ever gets there. Rey had been on her way to meet with the Chair of the Democratic Caucus when she had stumbled upon a strange sight. Kylo Ren standing in a corner with another Republican Senator. Usually she wouldn’t have looked twice, but that day she noticed the looks on the men’s faces. Kylo Ren was as cold as one could be, and the other Senator looked like he was about to shit his pants. 

“You will not tell anyone.” Ren had spoken, his voice ever so slightly above a hush. “Understand?” 

“But, Ren, this could be major…” The man had complained, still trembling. “We could dangle this over his head; we could blackmail him into voting whatever way we want him to. Just think about it.” 

“I have thought about it.” Ren said, his voice still very passive. “It’s wrong. He’s a good politician, a good man, and he has a family.” 

“And he made a mistake.” The other man had said. “This is our chance to strike.” 

“And to destroy his life in the process?” Ren’s voice had risen ever so slightly. “He may sit on the other side of the isle, but this is a man of honor. A man with principles and morals. He does not deserve …this. Anyway, we have all the votes we need. This is simply cruelty. You will not tell anyone or otherwise you’ll be impeached before you even have the chance to realize it.” 

Before the two men could notice her, Rey scurried away and hid in an empty bathroom stall for about five minutes before running the rest of the way to meet the Chair. Kylo Ren, her enemy, the man she had sworn had no empathy for anyone, had just protected a fellow Senator. And not just any Senator; a Democratic Senator. Who the Senator was and what he had done, Rey did not know. All she knew was that Kylo Ren had a heart and a conscience. The next time Rey saw Kylo after that was as they were voting on wether or not to pass a piece of legislation. Her eyes fell upon his frame and her heart sunk. Every time before this moment as she had looked at him, she had felt either hatred or nothing; now she felt admiration. And butterflies in her stomach. This man would be the death of her.


	15. Date-Night Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was Friday. Finally! TGIF, Jessika thought as she was walking to her car after her day at work. It had been a hell of a week full of meetings and hearings and phone calls and emails. It had been a crazier week than normal. Jessika simply couldn’t wait for the weekend after all this mayhem. If the West Wing had been a mess, then Capitol Building was Bedlam.

Leia was worried. Of course she was; her son had almost been killed! It had been a few weeks, but that did absolutely nothing to decrease the amount of anxiety she felt. When Leia and Han had visited Ben in the hospital, she had had to fight so hard against the tears that it wasn’t until Leia and Han had been in the car on the way home that she had noticed the small crescent moon shaped wounds which had appeared on her hands. But it was more than that. Leia kept waking up in the middle of the night. She had nightmares in which Ben was killed. Murdered. Assassinated. She dreaded every phone call. There was always the chance something bad had happened. 

“Sweetheart, you’ve got to stop worrying about this.” Han had said to her when she had woken up for the third time in one night. “Ben has a lot more security around him now. Even if someone tried, they couldn’t get to him.” 

Even Luke had noticed his sister’s dismay. However, unlike Han, Luke did not try to make her feel better. In a way she appreciated this. It made her concerns feel validated. She wasn’t crazy for worrying about her son’s safety. Sometimes she felt crazy, though. She had been in frequent contact with Ben since the assassination attempt, and he had told her not to worry about him. In that moment he had reminded Leia so much of his father that it had almost made her cry. But she did not tell him that. Han and Ben might seemed very different on the surface, but they had the same heart. They were made of the same substances, the same ingredients, and they shared the same essence. 

Leia had always found it comforting that even though Ben wasn’t Han’s biggest fan, he still adored his father. This was something that would go unsaid for the rest of eternity, but it was still a source of great comfort to her. 

“Come back to sleep.” Han muttered in the dark as Leia sat straight on the bed. “You know I have to go to work in the morning, and you have got to meet Luke for brunch. You don’t wanna go to brunch sleep deprived.” 

“You mean you don’t want to go to work sleep deprived.” Leia said with the smallest smile in her voice as she laid back down onto the soft mattress. 

“Yeah.” Han chuckled before falling back asleep. Leia however could not find peace even from his steady breathing. Instead she laid there, staring at the ceiling, until the sun began to rise, indicating the beginning of a new day. It was Friday. 

— — 

It was Friday. Finally! TGIF, Jessika thought as she was walking to her car after her day at work. It had been a hell of a week full of meetings and hearings and phone calls and emails. It had been a crazier week than normal. Jessika simply couldn’t wait for the weekend after all this mayhem. If the West Wing had been a mess, then Capitol Building was Bedlam. 

“Excuse me!” She heard a man’s voice call out to her. Jessika turned around to face a man in his early forties half-walking half-running towards her. He was wearing a dark blue suit and his brown hair was slightly messy. “Are you Senator Kenobi’s assistant?” The man asked. 

“Yes.” Jessika answered, properly turning around to face the man who gave her a relieved smile. 

“Uh, I’m Senator Cassian’s new assistant.” The man said. “And there is a new law that my boss needs Senator Kenobi to review.” 

“And?” Jessika asked the man to continue. She was off-duty, for Christ’s sake! All she wanted was to go home and drink some wine while watching a movie. Maybe a romantic comedy, or something. The day before Jessika had noticed that one of her favorite movies would be on TV later that night. She wanted to watch that instead of mailing legislation to Rey. 

“I know you’re off-duty so I don’t want to bother you…” The man said with an apologetic smile. “You know what? Would you just tell me Senator Kenobi’s address? I’ll send it to her myself.” 

“Of course.” Jessika said, and then proceeded to give the man the address. He wrote it down, thanked her with a cute smile on his face, and Jessika got into her car and drove home. Thank God it was Friday, indeed, she thought as she kicked off her shoes and started looking for the corkscrew. It was somewhere on the bottom of this drawer, she was certain. But she still couldn’t find it. 

She looked under the sofa, she looked all around the kitchen and the living room, but found nothing. Fucking perfect. Then she looked in her bedroom. Damn it, her bedroom was a mess. She looked under the blanket which she had left on the floor but it wasn’t there. Jessika was just about to give up her search when she finally located the twisted piece of metal under her bed when the light hit it and reflected from it. 

“I should really clean up more often…” Jessika muttered to herself as she left her bedroom and headed for the kitchen. Once she got there, she started looking for a glass. Not just any glass, but a nice one. The kind of glass you drink out of when you are truly trying to bring a touch of luxury so something that could be considered mundane. And so Jessika chose a nice glass, took some grapes from her fridge, and settled onto her new soft couch to watch a movie. It was truly the most relaxed she had felt in a long time. 

Politics was one big mess, Jessika decided. She enjoyed it, yes, but it was such a source of stress and uncertainty. She had learned that Capitol Building was a war-zone. It was a battlefield. She felt like she truly deserved her moment of relaxation before having to go back to work on Monday only to find herself, once again, in the firing line. It was highly rewarding and in the end it was always worth it, but, for now, she would relax. 

— — 

Kylo was sitting in the car that his newly hired bodyguard was driving. It was raining in D.C. and the streets glistened in the light of the street-lamps. Otherwise it was dark. Today had been another busy day. In all honesty, he could not remember a day that had not been busy since the day he had first become a politician. He had been quite young back then; only in his mid twenties. It had helped that he had grown up in a politically active family, although their party allegiances were problematic for Kylo. He had gotten strange looks from Democrats and Republicans alike. Some considered him a turncoat, others said he was actually a Democrat masquerading as a Republican. He didn’t really care what people said. 

He didn’t care about people questioning him. He didn’t question himself. He was right. His views were the correct ones. When he spoke, he spoke with conviction. He spoke with pride and confidence. There was no one in the world who could make him second guess his beliefs or opinions, for he was right and that was the only thing that mattered. 

At least that is how he felt until one day after he had given a speech in Harvard, and a young brunette girl had asked him a question about trickle-down economics. He did not know how, but she got under his skin very effectively. It was obvious she knew what she was talking about. Even after the professor had thrown the woman out, Kylo had been unable to stop himself thinking about her. There had been something. A strange connection he had felt like the two of them shared. He couldn’t even bring himself to dislike her. He was not insulted by anything she had said. Even when she said things about him that were less than complementary, he couldn’t bring himself to find her anything other than intriguing. He had only had a taste of her, and he wanted more. 

Little did he know how much more he would get. But now as he sat in the quiet car being driven through the streets of Washington, he knew. He knew that from that first moment, their destinies had been intertwined. He also knew that the woman did not believe in destiny. But he did. And he believed that she was a part of his destiny. She had not changed him for the better; she had made him want to change himself so that she would see he was better than she thought. She had thought he was cruel and heartless, but he had simply wanted to prove her wrong. He had never been heartless, but now he simply showed it more often. 

Then when one night she had told him she’d fuck him at any time, in any way, and anywhere, he had hardly been surprised. If only she hadn’t been that drunk… Well, then again, he’d only had to wait for a few hours. Kylo had been surprised that she admitted her attraction while sober. He had been baffled by her confidence and the way in which she had expressed herself. Rey may have thought that their story together had begun from that night, but for Kylo, it had been going on long before that. It had begun the moment she had stood up to defy him when she had been nothing more than a student and he had been nothing more than an overly self-assured Senator who saw nothing more than what he wanted to see. 

He was on his way to meet her, at this very moment. They hadn’t seen each other for the entire week because they had both been so busy with work. She had told him something about this law and that law, while he had tried to make the rest of the nation fall in love with him. He had actually started preparing for his first debate in the primaries. It was coming up in a few weeks. Even Snoke was going to be present. Speaking of the devil, the man had become such a thorn in Kylo’s side. It was obvious that the president wasn’t happy that Kylo was running. There had even been some speculation that Snoke had been the one to order the assassination attempt which Kylo had fortunately survived. However, there had not been much progress happening with the investigation. It was moving painfully slowly. There had, however, been enough progress that it had been publicly announced that the man who pulled the trigger had not been working alone. 

Someone wanted Kylo dead, that’s all he knew. It made him very anxious every time he had to go up on stage. After the assassination attempt, security had been increased. He now had a bodyguard by his side whenever he was in the public. He couldn’t even walk to work anymore even if he wanted to. It was a bit of a drag, but at the very least his bodyguard was not that noisy and not at all nosy. But sometimes, like when he was going to visit his girlfriend, he would have liked a certain air of privacy which was unobtainable when there was a bodyguard involved. 

Kylo checked the time. It was quarter to ten. He had promised to be at Rey’s around ten. Now as he sat in the car, he realized he’d be a bit late. Goddamn bodyguard. Kylo hated being late. Well, Rey would understand. She always did. 

— — 

Rey was watching a sappy romantic movie on TV. Normally she wouldn’t have wasted her time on something this brain-dead, but she had nothing better to do. She had had a stressful day at work fighting against members of her own party who wished to push forward such progressive legislation, it would never come to pass. Some of the more liberal minded of her party had come up with an idea that they should decriminalize all drug use while maintaining current laws concerning production and distribution. Rey didn’t find the idea particularly repulsive, but they would only do more harm than good by making this a part of their party’s agenda. The vast majority of voters would not like this because they were so conservative. This would make them less likely than ever to feel represented by the Democratic party. 

And so Rey was unwinding while watching this poorly-acted romance play out on the screen while waiting for Kylo to show up. It was kind of a date-night kind of situation. She looked out the window as she heard a car pull up in the driveway. That must be him, she thought, getting up from her place on the sofa and heading for the door. She took a few seconds to check the time; 9:50 PM.

There was a knock on the door, and Rey opened immediately, fully expecting Kylo to be standing there as she did so. Instead she saw an unfamiliar man who immediately lunged into her house with a gun pointed at her head.


	16. Not Expecting This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rating went up because, well, I don't know how bad or triggering this is, but you'll know after reading the chapter. No, not smut. But yeah. A bit of blood.  
> Also, I bet you were not expecting this chapter to go this way.  
> Ye 've been warned!

There was a knock on the door, and Rey opened immediately, fully expecting Kylo to be standing there as she did so. Instead she saw an unfamiliar man who immediately lunged into her house with a gun pointed at her head. 

Rey did not know what to do or how to react. Her head was empty. It had never even occurred to her that something like this could happen. She was not prepared. She did not own any guns and only had a bodyguard around some of the time, not always by any means. There was no way she was going to get to her phone without this man shooting her first. She could only hope he was not here to do that. That, however, defied all the odds as the man was actively pointing a loaded gun at her head. And the safety was off. 

“I’m gonna make this really clear, okay?” The man said with a low yet shaky voice. He was in his mid forties, Rey presumed. “I don’t wanna do this, Senator; I like you and your politics. I voted for you, in your last election. I’m from Philly, too.” 

“Well, thank you for your support.” Rey answered even as the man still aimed at her. “This is not usually how I meet with my constituents… Can I offer you a drink or something to eat?” 

“I’m not here to talk about policy.” The man simply replied, his voice cracking as he did so. “I just want you to know that I’m doin’ this because I got no other choice. So that when I see you next time, in heaven, you’ll know I only did this ‘cause I had to.” 

“Of course.” Rey answered, surprisingly calm. She did not know how she managed to remain so calm. Maybe it was because she was not afraid of this man. He might have been holding the gun, but she hardly felt threatened. “But may I ask, why do you have no choice? There is always a choice.” 

“He’ll hurt ‘em if I don’t do this.” The man explained, his voice now obviously shaking. “I don’t know what he’s got against you, I really don’t, but you’re the name he gave me.” 

“Who’s ‘them’?” Rey asked, quite curious. The man didn’t want to kill her. Instead he simply wished to protect someone. But who?

The man’s face twisted in a smile which was more like a grimace, and his blue eyes were quickly filled with tears. “My wife and her parents. They’re here illegally. He’ll kick ‘em out if I don’t do this.” 

“And who’s ‘he’?” She was now truly intrigued. If she was going to die, she at leats wanted to know who was to blame. This poor man was not the villain. 

“I don’t know.” The man admitted, tears spilling onto his cheeks. “All I know is that a strange evil-looking motherfucker came up to me one day. He knew everything about my wife and her parents. He knew I did cocaine when I was younger. He knew about the prostitutes… And he said he had a really powerful boss. A boss who could expose my family and ruin my reputation.” More tears rolled down his face and his hands shook. Rey truly felt sorry for this man. It was obvious he did not want to do this. 

“Do you have any idea who the boss might be?” Rey asked. “Or the man who approached you?”

The man sniffled. “He looked all proper and shit. Probably works in the government. Told me to hunt you down and snuff you. Gave no instructions, no nothin’. Just told me he wanted you dead and that I was on my own.” Now his hands shook almost violently. “I don’t wanna do this, God, I don’t!” He shut his eyes so tightly it must have hurt. 

Rey wanted to cry, too. 

At that moment there was another knock on the door. The man opened his eyes. Everything went quiet for a moment and Rey could hear the clock ticking in the kitchen. As the man shifted his gaze to meet her eyes once more, Rey knew the man knew there was no way out. Her stomach dropped. She felt like her heart was going to stop beating. She stopped breathing.

— — 

Kylo hopped out of the vehicle and noticed another car in Rey’s driveway. That was peculiar. Not many people knew where she lived, for safety reasons, and Kylo had never seen anyone visit her apart from Jessika and Luke. He could immediately tell that this was neither of their cars. It was not a fancy car; there were scratches everywhere, and it was clear that the vehicle was over ten years old. Kylo stopped to examine the car on his way to Rey’s door. There was a crack in the windshield. 

Then Kylo took a look at Rey’s door while still standing next to the car. The door was as it had always been. No one had broken in, that much was obvious. He took another moment to look back at the dark road on which Rey lived. No one was outside, and no cars were driving through the peaceful suburban neighborhood. It was almost eerily quiet. 

There was a cold breeze and Kylo was already soaking wet from the rain, so he decided to go into the house before he caught a cold. He walked to the door, taking shelter from the rain on Rey’s porch. He took one more look back at the car which his bodyguard had parked on the other side of the street. The man was still sitting there, looking at Ren. As if he couldn’t make his way to Rey’s door without getting lost. Kylo wanted to growl. He was a grown man, goddamn it. He did not need a babysitter. But Rey and his mother had not given him an option. Thus, the man staring at Ren. 

Turning to the door, Kylo knocked on it. Then he waited. No one answered. Kylo furrowed his brows and prepared to knock again. He lifted his hand up, but hesitated and put it back down. He took one more look around the night darkening around him and the rain falling down. He turned back to the door and this time he was going to knock again, but he did not. Why? Because he heard a gunshot. 

It felt as if time had suddenly started moving at twice the normal speed. Before Kylo could even register it, he had already taken a step backwards and kicked the door in. It opened with relative ease. Rey needed a better door. He could hear his bodyguard’s steps on the flooded pavement behind him, running towards the door, but he didn’t care. He stepped into the house, and what he saw was Rey sitting on the floor, her back against a wall. She was holding both her hands on her mouth, as if to stop herself from screaming. And directly in front of her was a puddle of blood, a man, and a gun. 

It was a gruesome sight. The red liquid was just spreading across the otherwise pristine white tiles underneath his feet and it reminded him of quicksilver. Kylo could not see the man’s face, nor did he care to, as he quickly took the two steps necessary to get to Rey. Kylo’s bodyguard came into the house as well, saw the situation, and immediately called for backup. 

Rey simply buried her face against Kylo’s chest, hoping it would all go away. Meanwhile, Kylo was beginning to recover from the shock and his immediate response was anger. Someone had tried to harm Rey. He did not know what had happened, but the man who was dead on the floor deserved to be dead on the floor. He had wanted to harm Rey and he would have. He wanted to let go of Rey and smash the dead man's head against the floor until his skull and brain would be in pieces across the white tile floor. But it was almost as if Rey could sense Kylo’s anger building up even as he said nothing. 

“It wasn’t him.” Rey sobbed against his jacket. “It wasn’t him.” 

— — 

“Breaking news!” Beebee Aight was once again announcing. “There has been another assassination attempt in Washington D.C. This time an armed man entered the home of Democratic Senator Rey Kenobi at 9:50PM. The man whose identity remains a secret, threatened to shoot Senator Kenobi before ending his own life. To our great relief, Senator Kenobi is unharmed. She has yet to give a public statement on what happened, however her spokesperson issued a statement saying that the man was not working alone. This makes it the second politically motivated attempted murder this year. What is happening to our democracy?” 

What indeed, Luke wondered as he turned away from the screen to face Rey who was sitting on the sofa in Ben’s arms. Leia was on her way to the apartment. Rey was clearly distraught by what had just happened. It was only understandable. She had been made to feel unsafe in her own home and she had witnessed a suicide. Anyone would be distressed. 

“What makes you think he wasn’t working alone?” Luke asked her. 

“He said so himself.” Rey said, her voice stuffy from crying. “He talked about how he didn’t want to do it and how he didn’t have a choice.” 

There was a heavy silence in the room. 

Finally Kylo spoke up “Whoever wanted you dead is most likely the same person who wants me dead.” Then it hit him. “They can’t get to me because of my bodyguard.” 

“So they thought they’d get her instead.” Luke continued. “They want to get to you through hurting her.” 

Another heavy silence followed. The rage building up in the bottom of Kylo’s stomach was dangerously close to erupting as violently as Vesuvius. However, he did not want to destroy everything in his vicinity. Rey had already suffered enough. She didn’t deserve another one of his temper tantrums. But someone had tried to hurt her because of him. Which made Kylo feel incredibly guilty. It was his lust for power that had lead to this. If only he weren’t running for president, this would never have happened. It was his fault. 

“It’s not your fault.” Rey spoke quietly, again reading his thoughts. “If you quit now, they win. You can’t let them win.” 

“I promise.” He vowed with great difficulty. Who on Earth would be so desperate to stop him from…

Oh. 

“Snoke.” Kylo Ren said quietly. It all made sense now. Who else would benefit from Kylo not being able to run? Or being dead? Or heartbroken over Rey? Which meant that Snoke knew about his relationship with Rey. It would only be a matter of time before he would expose the two in hopes of it hurting Kylo’s campaign. Kylo turned to look into Rey’s eyes. “Rey… We're getting married.” 

“What?” She gasped. This is not how she had planned this moment to play out. 

But instead of repeating himself, Kylo turned to look at his uncle. “Do you still have Galen Erso’s phone number? Call him for me. I need a Vice President.” Then he was on his feet, searching for his jacket, and about to run out of the door. 

Rey was in shock, jumping up from her place on the couch, running to Kylo who was looking for his keys. "Wait... did you just...?" Did he just propose? And then move on without even giving her a chance to respond? "Did you just ask me to marry you?" 

Kylo looked up at Rey after picking up his keys from one of the counter tops. "No." He answered almost crudely. "I told you that we're getting married." He gave her a quick peck on the lips, ran past her and Luke to the door, and then he was gone. Rey was dumbstruck. Luke was dumbstruck. They both stared at each other from across the room, trying to come decipher what the fuck had just happened. 

"Congratulations, Mrs Ren." Luke finally said, trying to hold back a grin. 

"Just..." Rey felt annoyance boiling in her abdomen. "Just go call the fucking Galen Erso or whatever his name was."


	17. The Big Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessika was terrified. Did anyone know that what almost happened to Rey was partially her fault? Did Rey know? Did anyone suspect she could have had something to do with the assassin acquiring Rey’s address?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can barely find the time to write these days, but you guys are the best so here you go! I hope you enjoy <3

When Galen Erso got a phone call from Luke Skywalker, he thought he was hallucinating. There was no way this man would be contacting him. However, once Galen found out that Luke was calling him because Kylo Ren was in need of a Vice President, it made a thousand times more sense. He had known the younger man for a very long time and the two of them got on better than most people. Galen had been a senator back when Kylo had been elected for his first term in the senate, and had been impressed by how dedicated Kylo was when he worked. The two of them had often worked together to pass legislation or to get a certain politician elected. Then Galen had become a Congressman and Kylo had become Secretary of State. This meant that the two men had seen each other only briefly since then, usually in fund-raisers and other events. 

Still, Galen accepted the offer. It was healthy to change up his life a little bit. Vice President was not a bad title, in his opinion. Also, he believed that Kylo Ren had a good chance of winning. Galen remembered watching the news right after the assassination attempt had happened, and thinking to himself that Kylo Ren was about to get a lot of good coverage. There were all different types of theories out there as to who had been behind the assassination attempt, but Galen did not know who or what to believe. Maybe he would ask Kylo. 

Yes, but not right now. He thought as he settle down onto his bed, reaching for the remote, and putting the TV on. Now, he’d watch the news. It had only been less than a day since Luke had contacted him, and so nothing too major could have happened on that front in such little time. Time to see what else was going on in the world. He found CNN with relative ease and started hysterically laughing when he saw the story being covered.

“Breaking news” The host exclaimed. “The presidential nominee Kylo Ren and Democratic senator Rey Kenobi announce their wedding. The two used to serve together in the Senate before being serving as Secretary of State and Secretary of Treasury in the Holdo administration.” Galen secretly found the host to be rather annoying. When they spoke, Galen felt as if the sound was comparable to beeping. “This announcement comes directly after Senator Kenobi was almost murdered by an armed intruder. The man entered Kenobi’s home around 10PM and threatened to kill the senator. Also, Kylo Ren was hurt earlier this year in a politically motivated assassination attempt. The police believe that these two instances may be linked together, as the two politicians said they had decided to get engaged before Ren’s decision to run for president.” 

Galen reconsidered his choice of becoming the VP to Kylo’s POTUS. In actuality, he didn’t honestly reconsider because his mind was already made, but it seemed like there was something not quite right here. Especially when taking into consideration the possibility that it was the same person who had tried to kill Ren a few months prior and had now attempted to harm Senator Kenobi. There was something fishy going on. Galen would definitely need to have a chat with Ren. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy for the younger man… who was not that young anymore. How old was he? Not fifty quite yet but definitely getting there. Time does fly… But Galen had never expected Kylo to fall in love with Rey Kenobi of all people. When the three of them had been in the Senate at the same time, Galen had been certain that Kylo would be far more likely to kill her than to marry her. And vice versa. 

Galen Erso and Kylo Ren would need to have a chat at some point. 

— — 

Jessika was terrified. Did anyone know that what almost happened to Rey was partially her fault? Did Rey know? Did anyone suspect she could have had something to do with the assassin acquiring Rey’s address? Jessika wasn’t stupid. Immediately when she had heard the news, she had known it had been the same man who had approached her in the parking lot. However, no one knew that had happened. Right? Would they ever figure it out? Should she tell Rey? 

If Jessika were to tell anyone, she would risk losing her job. It would ruin her reputation; no one would ever again hire her after that. But would it be a bigger catastrophe, if she didn’t tell and they found about her involvement anyway? Jessika did not know what to do. She felt so guilty and for good reason. She should not have given away any information. This had been a fuck-up of epic proportions. This could have cost Rey her life. But it had not. Rey was alive and physically unharmed. Also, Jessika did not want to lose her job. She would take this to the grave. She would keep this a secret and never tell anyone. If they ever did find out, she could just claim that she did not know that the man had been the same one. 

It felt wrong. It was the wrong thing to do. Jessika knew it. But it was so much easier to shut up than to speak up. Especially when she was the one to blame. In her heart Jessika knew that Rey might actually be forgiving and not fire her for this, but she also knew that Rey would never trust her again. Not having Rey’s trust would kill Jessika. She did not deserve it, but she was selfish. Jessika would stay quiet, keep her head down, and pray no one would ever trace this back to her. 

— — 

It was peculiar to an extent, Rey thought. It was actually peculiar to an enormous extent, the fact that she was going to be getting married to Kylo. She loved him, she truly did, but she could not deny the strange nature of the situation. They were night and day, ying and yang, black and white, Democrat and Republican, Atheist and Christian; they were polar opposites in every way. Had someone told her ten years ago that she would be marrying the man, she would have laughed in their face. But here she was, staring at white dresses, Leia standing by her side with a smile on her face. 

When Leia had found out that Ben and Rey were getting married, she had started crying out of happiness. She had never thought she would live to see this happen. But her son was going to marry the woman he loved. And it was going to be great for PR. The media was already going crazy over the wedding. People were excited that the most popular candidate in the primaries was getting married during his campaign. Obviously this meant that Kylo couldn’t take part in planning the wedding; he was constantly working. Rey was busy, also, but not as busy as he was. 

“I really like the ballgown one.” Leia said to Rey, pointing at the most extravagant dress in the entire store. It was beautiful, but not Rey’s style.

“I was thinking about something a little more… simplified. Minimalistic, maybe. Classy without any frills, maybe a little bit of lace but nothing crazy.” Rey told the older woman who had taken charge of planning the wedding. It seemed that Leia truly enjoyed planning the event. 

The two women went on trying all different kinds of dresses until finally they found the one. Rey looked in the mirror and it was clear that this was it. She wasn’t too fussed about what she was going to wear when she got married, but the dress was beautiful. 

“I think we found it.” Rey said, turning to face her future mother-in-law. 

“I think we did.” Leia replied with tears in her eyes. 

— — 

It was the big day. No, not the wedding. It was the day Kylo would find out wether or not he would be the Republican nominee. He was stressed. It was insane. Why had he done this in the first place? He had never thought that running for president would be an easy thing to do, but he had never thought it would be this hard. He had so many employees now that he could hardly remember all of their names. It was simply impossible to keep track of everything, and he had to trust other people to do a lot of work for him. 

“The worst part about this” Kylo said to Poe Dameron as they sat in an office, drinking a little, the night before the primaries “is that if I become the nominee, I’ll have to suffer through the Republican Convention.” 

Poe chuckled. “I’ve always hated that; it’s just so boring.” 

“The Democratic Convention tends to be a little better.” Kylo said, taking another sip of his drink. 

“That almost makes me want to switch parties.” Poe answered with a wide grin on his face. That was followed by a small chuckle from Kylo and a few moments of silence. “How’s future Mrs Ren?” Poe finally asked. “Has she recovered from the shock yet? I mean, anyone would be suffering from intense emotional trauma if they went through being proposed to by you.” 

Kylo rolled his eyes so much that it hurt. “Rey is doing quite well. She did go to see a therapist last week. I forced her to go. And all the while she was muttering about how unnecessary this all was.” Poe didn’t find that too surprising. “Also, I doubt she’ll ever be Mrs Ren; I think she’s going to be Miss Kenobi even after we've gotten married.” 

Again, Poe was not surprised. “I think you should become Mr Kenobi.” 

Kylo almost drowned in his drink, but kept grinning his signature nearly-a-smile smile. “That is the most idiotic idea you have ever had, Dameron, and that’s saying something; you’ve never had a non-idiotic idea.” 

“I’m not sure ‘non-idiotic’ is an actual word.” Poe grumbled. “And you have had many way more idiotic ideas; for one, you ran for president and now we’re both in this shit.”

“Go to Hell, Dameron.” Kylo retorted emotionlessly, but secretly agreed with the man. They were in this shit now, and there were only two ways this shit could go down; he’d win or he’d lose. And he could not afford to lose. He had worked too hard for this. His staff had worked too hard for this. 

And it was close.

“I accept the nomination.” Kylo spoke in a calm and collected manner while looking over at the ocean of smiling faces in front of him. The lights were blinding. When he finally got to speak those words, he could not believe this was true. It had been a dream for so long but now it was a reality. Of course this did not mean the fight was over; it had only just begun. This did not mean he would be safe from Snoke. This did not mean he would be safe from Hux. But this did mean that he was a step closer to the Oval Office, and a step closer to the presidency. Now he would only have to win the hearts of the Democrats. However, this would not be a simple feat because those hearts were very firmly held by his adversary; the Democratic nominee, ex-President Holdo.


	18. Future, past, present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for being so patient with me <3

Rey was happy that Kylo had become the Republican nominee, but she felt torn. Holdo had been such a good president in Rey’s opinion that having to choose between voting for Holdo or voting for Kylo, Rey did not know what to do. Holdo was so competent and incredibly popular among Democrats. But Kylo was her future husband. By the time November rolled around, Kylo would BE her husband. Present tense. They’d be married and if he won, she’d be the First Lady. What a strange idea; being First Lady. The world would have its eyes on her and Kylo. They would live together in the White House although Kylo would be working constantly. Maybe they would have …children? 

Rey had never actually wanted children until she had turned 35. That is when it had struck her that she actually wished to be a mother. But bringing up children while being a successful career politician, especially when you were a woman, was not an easy thing to do. Bringing up children was never an easy thing to do, but a career made it downright impossible. Maybe being First Lady would make that a possibility? Although Rey couldn’t help but wonder how Kylo’s position would affect their children. Also, the thought of being a mother terrified Rey. 

Rey had grown up without knowing her parents. Until she turned eighteen, she had simply been tossed around from one foster family to another. She had never had a family. She had never had a mother. What kind of a mother could she even be? Rey had never felt what it was like to have someone care for her until she had met Kylo. And even Kylo hadn’t exactly been like that since the beginning. But he had become more and more like that. Rey assumed that this was love. It was her only true experience of love and that is why she assumed it. It was difficult to describe her feelings for the man. 

Rey thought back to the times when they had been in the senate together. She could vividly remember stealing glances from across the isle whenever she could. She remembered her pounding heart every time Kylo would walk into her office, demanding she vote for whatever he was trying to push through. Obviously, she had not voted for 99.9999% of the things he had proposed, but that had never stopped him from trying. Rey remembered late-night meetings, discussions over lunches, and debates which stretched from dusk till dawn. She could trace back how she came to feel for the man as she now did. Hatred turning into annoyance, annoyance turning into neutrality, neutrality into respect, respect into caring, caring into… something much deeper. Other men had never engaged her the same way he did. They were too simple to find interesting, too easy to get along with, too eager to get her to like them. Kylo was complicated, fought her if need be, and didn’t attempt to make her like him. He didn’t care if she liked him which only made her like him more. 

Rey’s phone rang. Quickly she picked it up and looked at the screen. Leia was calling. Rey was tempted not to answer. Her future mother-in-law had taken up this habit of calling Rey over every last little detail that had to do with the wedding. Rey found it unnecessary since she trusted Leia’s judgement. Rey didn’t need to affirm that the carpets could be cream colored or that the tables were allowed to be decorated with some sort of flower that Rey no longer remembered. Leia could make those choices by herself. Still, Rey couldn’t find it within herself not to answer the call. 

“Yes?” She answered although she was afraid that her voice might have betrayed her lack of enthusiasm. If Leia noticed, she ignored it. 

“Who’s going to give you away?” Leia asked and Rey rolled her eyes although the other woman could not see it. 

“No one.” She answered. “I’ll walk down the isle myself.” 

“Oh.” Leia said. “And you are fine with that? I’m sure Luke could give you away if you wanted him to.” 

“I will walk down the isle myself and no one will give me away.” Rey confirmed. She didn’t need anyone giving her away. No one owned her, no one could ‘give her away’. She knew it was a tradition, but she had always thought it was a repugnant one. Maybe this was because she had already been given away before she could even remember it. “Anything else?” 

“No.” Leia simply replied. In Leia’s opinion, a bride walking down the isle all by herself was a sad sight. But if that was what Rey wanted… “I’ll see you later tonight.”

“See you later.” Rey replied before hanging up. A sudden surge of sadness coursed through her chest. She had always been alone and independent, but along with that had come loneliness and isolation. She was supposed to be happy now that she was no longer alone. And she was happy. She loved Kylo and his family. She wanted to get married to him. Maybe it was that she simply did not know how not to be alone, and so she was afraid that even if she weren’t alone, she’d still be lonely. She was afraid that marriage would change nothing, but she was also afraid it might change something. 

— — 

If Kylo had once thought that after winning the primaries, his life would be easier… Well, he had been wrong. The campaign was far more hectic than it had ever been before, the media wouldn’t leave him alone, his mother was harassing him about the wedding, he only had time to meet Rey once a week, and his hair was turning grey. No, seriously. His hair was turning grey. What even was life? Kylo wasn’t that old! It had to be the stress, he decided when he looked in the mirror and found another grey hair. There was no other explanation. At least he would look presidential. That means old, a part of his brain informed him, and Kylo frowned and straightened his tie while walking away from the mirror.

Today he would have his first ever debate against Holdo. It was strange to think that he was in this position. It had not been that long since Kylo had worked for the woman. They had very different views but still she had hired him as her Secretary of State. It had caught him by surprise. He wondered how she felt while preparing to debate him. Was she angry? Did she feel betrayed? Or did Holdo believe that he could be the next president? Kylo wasn’t exactly sure which one of them would win. The polls showed equal support for both nominees. Some polls indicated he would win, others claimed Holdo would. What Kylo did know was that some conservatives liked him because his VP was Erso. He also knew some liberal democrats liked him because his fiancee was Rey. He had a shot, but nothing was guaranteed. 

Kylo also couldn’t help but worry about Snoke. Kylo was convinced that the slimy man had attempted not only to kill him, but also Rey. That is where he drew the line. Going after him was perhaps dangerous to democracy but going after his future wife was unacceptable. It was disgusting and immoral. Both adjectives which could be used to describe the president himself. He hated Snoke. Kylo Ren truly hated him. Still Kylo knew that it was unlikely that he had seen the last of Snoke. The snake would find a way to make his life Hell, even if Kylo managed to win the White House. 

— — 

Rey was not in the audience. Instead she was sitting in an awfully boring caucus meeting. She couldn’t help but notice a few of her fellow democrats sending strange looks her way. They were quick glances, but she noticed each one. After her engagement to Kylo had become public, Rey had found that a few of the democrats had begun to treat her differently. Most had not changed their opinion of her and she had gotten many congratulations and hugs, but there were definitely a few nay-sayers around as well. And they sent strange looks her way. Let them stare, she thought and straightened her posture. She was not ashamed. 

But she wasn’t happy that she was not in the audience. Every so often, Rey glanced at her watch and knew fully well that the Ren vs Holdo debate was in full swing. And what was she doing? Listening to a few senators bicker over urban development. Rey glanced over at Jessika who was sitting behind her, not at the table. The woman was actively making notes of everything that was being said. She truly was a life-saver, Rey thought. She quickly excused herself from the meeting under the guise of going to the restroom, and instead slipped into her office, and turned on the TV. 

There they were, Kylo and Holdo, standing side by side on the stage. Holdo looked beautiful and classy in her sleek grey attire, and Kylo looked dashing in his black suit. Was that grey she saw in his hair? 

“…and we disagree on the best way of growing the economy.” Holdo spoke gently yet in a stern voice. “What Ren is proposing would be trickle-down economics all over again.” Rey could not help but laugh humorlessly. It was strange how much had changed and how much had stayed exactly the same. Damn, she hated Kylo's politics.

“How do you respond to his, Kylo Ren?” The moderator, Beebee Aight, asked Kylo who was surprisingly calm and measured in his response. 

“My plans for growing the economy add emphasis on trade.” He spoke, and Rey couldn’t help but realise that his voice was incredibly presidential. “If Mrs Holdo wishes to call that trickle-down economics, I say let her. It doesn’t matter what it is called because the point remains that trade is the cornerstone of our economic growth. It will allow us to make investments that will truly raise incomes for the middle class and produce more jobs for more people.” 

While Rey agreed with Holdo on this issue, she couldn’t deny that Kylo knew how to talk. Unless you truly looked into Kylo’s plan, you might actually believe him. He was so persuasive, in fact, that even Rey found some part of herself wanting to believe in the words he was speaking. Luckily, she knew better. She switched off the TV before Beebee Aight could ask the candidates another question, and got right back into the meeting which was as boring as ever. Now, however, as she stared at the shiny surface of the table in the room, she didn’t think of urban development; she thought of Kylo. Would he be a good president? Could she vote for him? 

— — 

Once Kylo got off the stage, he felt more than proud of himself. Had he been a more expressive person, he might have even smiled at Poe Dameron who was waiting with his friend(?) Finn backstage. Instead Kylo simply nodded at Finn as a greeting, and turned then to talk to Poe. 

“What did you think?” Kylo asked. 

“I think you did very well.” Poe said with a grin. “Although I think that Finn still won’t vote for you.” 

Kylo turned to look at the younger man who simply met his gaze and shrugged. “I’m a born-again democrat. What can I say?” 

“Well, I’m not sure Rey will vote for me either, so I think I can’t hold that against you.” Kylo said almost jokingly. “But I think I won this debate. We’ll see what the tabloids say tomorrow and what the late-night hosts say tonight.” 

“The late night hosts hate you.” Poe reminded his employer who almost smiled at that. 

“I know.” Kylo answered. “But we’ll see what they say anyway; if I did well enough, they’ll try to rip me to shreds. It obviously won’t make a difference; we have different target audiences.”


	19. Showtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey wanted nothing more than to sit down, but there was no chair in the closet. Her shoes were slightly uncomfortable. She had wanted to wear flats, but since she was considerably shorter than Kylo, it hadn’t been too difficult for Leia to convince her otherwise. So here she was, in a church that didn’t even have a room for the bride to wait in, in a closet, in uncomfortable shoes, starting to feel quite sweaty. How much longer would this be? Her patience was starting to wear thin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been suffering from a hectic life and writer's block but I hope you guys forgive me and enjoy this! <3

The former president was livid as she got off the stage, but she had to keep her cool outward appearance. She kept a smile on her face and behaved very politely despite the fact that the only thing she wished to do was scream. Her shoes were too small, her head ached, and the clothes she wore were made of an incredibly uncomfortable fabric. It wasn’t really until she got home that she could let her anger and frustration rise through the carefully constructed surface that was her public persona. She closed the door at normal speed, but the second it was shut, Holdo’s shoes were headed towards the wall. It was lucky nothing too important was near where they landed. They made a very loud thump but not half as loud as the roar which made its way out of her body. 

How the fuck in God’s fucking name had Kylo fucking Ren been able to win the fucking debate? She wasn’t stupid; she knew she had been defeated. The man was simply way too good at talking. He was very talented when it came to rhetoric, but his policies were all wrong. Why the fuck did Rey agree to marry this man? Holdo was sure Rey had some good reason as she always did, but fuck! Holdo could not even begin to comprehend… 

Still fuming, Holdo stomped up the stairs into her bedroom, laid herself down on the bed, on her back, and proceeded to imagine Kylo Ren in various states of dying. She didn’t actually wish to harm him, of course, but it was so gratifying and satisfying to think about. He was a hazard to their political sphere and a detriment to Holdo’s mental health. 

She felt her anger dwindle down to naught. It left behind but a dull ache in her abdomen where moments prior it had scorched her insides like a raging wildfire. Even imagining her former Secretary of State dying in pain and terror could not bring her joy nor satisfaction. She sighed, placed her hands to cover her face, and felt deeply ashamed of herself for reacting so violently to her defeat in the debate. She was a mess, her life was a mess, and the campaign was a fucking mess. 

— — 

When Kylo got back to his place after the debate and a trip back to his office, he found a sleeping Rey Kenobi on the loveseat in his living room. The lights were still on and so was the TV, blasting a Survivor rerun, which signalled to Kylo that his future wife had fallen asleep while waiting for him to come home. It was kind of cute and Kylo couldn’t help the smile, genuine smile, that made its way onto his lips.

Rey’s hair was a mess and she was drooling in her sleep. Had Kylo been any crueler, he would have taken a picture of her in that moment and used it as blackmail for years to come. But he didn’t wish to embarrass the woman, and so he simply scooped her up into his arms, doing his best not to wake her up, and carried her into the bedroom. 

However, it seemed that he had managed to wake her up just a little, because as he put her down on the bed, Rey muttered in a sleepy haze

“I want the cat to have a different name…” 

Kylo raised one eyebrow as his smile grew wider. “What cat?” He asked. 

“The cat that can turn into Pikachu and scare the Kylo-clones…” She muttered as she fell back asleep, and Kylo had to do everything in his power not to burst out laughing like a maniac. 

Kylo knew Rey had crazy dreams. She had always had insane dreams and he had always loved listening to her explain them to him since he couldn’t remember the last time he had dreamt. He took off his suit and went to take a shower. He was happier now than he had ever been before. 

— — 

There were flowers, and cake, and a name-tag on each seat. The breathtakingly beautiful church was full of sunlight and the birds were chirping in the trees outside, and Rey felt as if someone had punched her in the gut repeatedly. Oh, the bachelorette party had been a mistake… But she would have to push through despite the pain and terror she was currently experiencing. Her head was empty and she couldn’t even think straight as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was actively hiding from the inpouring guests in a small closet. Kylo was not allowed to see her when she wore the dress. They hadn’t even been allowed to see each other yesterday. Leia told her it would be bad luck if they did see one another. Rey had had to fight back a scoff. Hogwash. But there was no talking herself out of this pickle since Leia had already made up her mind about the issue. 

And so Rey was waiting all alone in the tiny room as Kylo stood at the door, welcoming droves and droves of guests. Some of those guests were members of the media, others were childhood friends, some were Leia’s former co-workers. Most of these faces were at least somewhat familiar to Kylo although there were many he had never seen before. He didn’t really care, though. All that mattered was that he was going to marry the woman he loved more than anything else in the world. Even as he greeted the people who had come to attend the ceremony, Kylo couldn’t help but find his thoughts drifting back to the small woman hiding somewhere in the huge building. He was not afraid. He was excited. For all he knew, he was much more excited about the whole ordeal than Rey was. It almost made him chuckle. Kylo would never forget the look on the woman’s face when he had told her that they were getting married. It had been priceless. Kylo had almost expected her to fight back, but as time went on, it had become quite clear that she was quite pleased about this also. 

Then Kylo saw him. Rage boiled in the pit of his stomach as his eyes found themselves unable to look away from the man in black. The man who had almost killed him. The man who had almost hurt the woman he loved. President Snoke. 

Yes, there he was; the President himself. He was walking up the stairs with bodyguards surrounding him. Kylo wanted nothing more than to punch the man in his disgusting face. He had not been invited. Kylo wanted to scream at the man to fuck off, but knew this would be frowned upon and could potentially cost him the presidency. So he straightened his back and prepared to shake the hand of the man he had once worked for. 

Meanwhile, Rey wanted nothing more than to sit down, but there was no chair in the closet. Her shoes were slightly uncomfortable. She had wanted to wear flats, but since she was considerably shorter than Kylo, it hadn’t been too difficult for Leia to convince her otherwise. So here she was, in a church that didn’t even have a room for the bride to wait in, in a closet, in uncomfortable shoes, starting to feel quite sweaty. How much longer would this be? Her patience was starting to wear thin. 

Kylo’s patience was starting to wear thin also. He had just shaken hands with Snoke. Kylo was one hundred percent certain that no one would ever understand how much willpower it had taken him not to break the bitch’s fingers. Snoke had come to their wedding without being invited simply to show his ass and ruin the day for both Kylo and Rey. 

“I am… very happy for you.” Snoke spoke in a polite way although every cell of his being signalled to Kylo that this was indeed not the case. “I would also like to congratulate your beautiful wife…” 

“She’s getting ready. You can’t go see her.” Kylo said without any emotion in his voice. He was squeezing his fists so tight that it hurt. 

Snoke gave him no immediate response. Instead he simply stared into Kylo’s eyes in a manner which made Kylo supremely uncomfortable. It was as if the president had been reading his mind. Kylo did everything in his power not to show Snoke anything. No facial expression, no body-language cues, no nothing.   
“Well…” Snoke finally said, his eyes never leaving Kylo’s. “I guess I will just go… and take a seat.” 

“It is such an honor to have you here today.” Kylo spoke as calmly as he could, straightening his posture. “You’re welcome to go sit where ever you like.” 

Snoke gave Kylo a condescending smile, turned with his bodyguards hot on his heels, and made his way into the building. Meanwhile, Kylo closed his eyes and drew in the deepest breath of his life. After a moment, he exhaled slowly and let his fists fall open. Then he opened his eyes, and turned to walk into the church himself. He was getting married and Snoke would not (would not!) ruin this day for him or for Rey. 

— — 

Leia had greeted all the guests and now she was sitting between Luke and Han. They had already taken their place in the front row. She had never thought she would live to see this day. Ben was getting married. To a democrat. It was almost too good to be true, in Leia’s opinion. The democrat part was actually quite important to Leia; if Ben became president, Rey would be the First Lady. And wives often had a lot of power over their husbands. Which meant that Rey’s influence would be likely to seep into the things Ben would sign. Of course, the most important thing was that Ben and Rey would be happy, but Leia would be lying if she claimed that Rey’s political views didn’t bring her a certain peace of mind. Rey would not let Ben mess things up too severely. 

While Leia was completely lost in her own thoughts, Kylo made his way down the isle to wait for Rey in the front. He never would have admitted it, but he was thoroughly horrified. It had hit him like a ton of bricks, the terror of what was to come. He was about to get married. It didn’t matter that he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Rey, because in that moment he couldn’t help but regret every life decision which had led him to this moment. 

He was getting married. 

Married. 

Married! 

To Rey fucking Kenobi and no one else. In his mind, this simply proved that fate was a real thing and that God had a sense of humor. His palms were beginning to sweat and his heartbeat was sky-high. Too late to turn back now. Not that he would even if he could. 

Kylo took his place at the altar. His Best Man, Poe Dameron, was standing a few feet behind him, fiddling with the rings. The priest was also already standing there, smiling reassuringly at him. Kylo wanted to punch him in the face. He was a priest! He did not know how stressful it was to get married… 

Kylo took a deep breath. Fuck his life. Exhale. Okay, okay, he was calm now. He could do this. 

As the organs started blasting out some song Kylo could hardly register and couldn’t even remember the name of, he was certain he would pass out, die, or both. The guests stood up and turned to look at the door. Soon she would walk from those doors. Unless of course she had ran away. Which, if she was as panicked as he was, Kylo would not blame her for. 

——

Okay, Rey thought to herself, shifting her weight from one foot to the other; her shoes were way too uncomfortable. Showtime.


	20. The Purple Wedding

The ballroom was in flames. Not metaphorical flames; literal, multiple-feet-tall, burning hot flames which were beginning to flail around like the branches trees in the wind. People were screaming, the fire alarms were blasting, there was banging on the doors, and the sound of feet against the hardwood floor as everyone ran towards the exit. But there was no exit. The doors refused to open and so did the windows. Smoke begun to fill Rey’s lungs and she could not stop herself from coughing. Her mouth was dry and the air tasted disgusting. Despite the fact that her eyes were watering from the fumes surrounding her, she could still see the sight which would haunt her until her death. It was Hell on Earth. The flames were beginning to climb dangerously high, the dark smoke rising to the ceiling which was beginning to break and fall apart. The guests were sweaty, their faces were dirty, all the tables had fallen, and there were sparks flying through the air. 

Ever since the moment Rey had walked down the isle and seen President Snoke sitting in the audience, she had known something bad would happen. Everything had been clean and beautiful in the church as she had walked to meet Kylo at the altar. He had looked so handsome despite the scar on his face and the streaks of grey which had begun to pop up in his hair. Rey thought that the look suited him very well. He had looked so incredibly happy, and Rey swore she could see tears in his eyes as she stood in front of him. 

They had taken their vows in front of the whole world, and the moment she had said “I do” had been the happiest moment of Rey’s life. She had never truly understood why people cried at weddings until that second. It had been so beautiful. The flowers, the smiles on people’s faces, the way the sun had hit Kylo’s face through the window… Leia had cried, when Kylo put the ring on Rey, and Han had put his arms around her. Rey wished that she and Kylo would be like that when they grew old. Everything had been perfect as they ran down the stairs of the church, hand in hand, to be taken to the venue. Most of the guests had followed them. Snoke had not. 

Snoke. 

And just like that Rey was back in the present moment. She saw the flames grow higher and she could feel the hot air burning her skin. She needed to get out. That was all she knew. There had to be an out. But no matter how she looked around the darkening room of fire, she could not find an out. And neither could anyone else. Her head was beginning to feel dizzy, and she was covered in sweat and ash. Exhaustion begun to take over her body. Rey found it difficult to breathe. There was not enough oxygen left for her; the flames were consuming it all. Without even realizing how, she quickly found herself on the floor and unable to get up. Her body didn’t listen. Even as she fought against it, her muscles begun to stop moving. Her vision was getting even blurrier than it had been before. Rey saw the feet of the guests in the room that was lit up by fire, the harsh light turning everything red. The screams of terror grew more and more distant, and instead her ears begun to beep. The pain was overwhelming. She was just on the brink of passing out as suddenly a cool breeze washed over her and a pair of strong arms picked her up. And then her world turned silent and black, her senses ceased to relay information to her brain, and then there was simply nothing. 

Kylo had not even been in the building when the incident had occurred. He had been outside, having a one-on-one chat with Poe Dameron, as suddenly the men had heard screams from inside the venue. It had already been dark outside, so the fire could be seen almost immediately. 

It had not mattered how much the men had tried, the door had not budged. The windows had not opened. The screams had crescendoed and crescendoes until, after the two men had already called for the fire department, they begun to grow quieter and quieter. 

Kylo could not believe this was happening. As the nightmare dragged on and on, he found himself hopelessly listening out for Rey’s screams. But he could not hear them. If only he had heard them, he would have had some indication that she was alive. At least temporarily. 

When finally the firetruck had arrived, Kylo had lost all hope. She had to be dead. She had to be dead along with his mother and father and uncle. If his luck in life would remain as it had always been, they would all be scorched corpses, burnt beyond recognition. What would he have left?

As they carried Rey’s limp body from inside the party house, Kylo felt his heart stop beating in his chest. She was still wearing her dress although you could hardly call it white anymore; it was ashen grey, completely black at certain spots, and parts of it had been burnt away. Her hair was a mess; it looked pitch black in the dark night. The light from the flames which still engulfed the building next to them turned the beautiful scenery into something from a horror movie. From this distance he could not tell wether Rey was alive or not. 

His feet carried him to the ambulance where they had carried her. The ambulance carried the two of them to the hospital. She was still breathing albeit faintly. Her heartbeat was somewhat steady. They told him she would survive. And still Rey refused to regain consciousness. They arrived at the hospital and she was taken away from him. They hooked her up to a machine which breathed for her, they monitored the beating of her heart, cleaned her wounds and treated her burns. All the while, Kylo sat in the lobby, waiting in agony. 

— — 

“Breaking news!” Beebee Aight informed. “The Republican candidate, Kylo Ren, got married earlier today to democratic senator Rey Kenobi. The matrimony was visited by multiple important figures in Washington, including President Snoke himself. After they had gotten married, the guests as well as the newly wed couple were moved to the reception venue. The president did not visit the reception. At 11PM, a fire started at the lot. Officials say that it did not originate from a ‘natural source’ meaning that the fire was lit intentionally. Both Mr Ren and Senator Kenobi have been targets of assassination attempt just this year, and it hardly comes a surprise that the police have suggested that the perpetrator was likely to be the same.” 

Holdo could not believe her ears or eyes as she watched the news. This was impossible. Who would even try to do this? At their wedding reception? 

“So far it has been reported that 20 people, including the bride, are being taken care of in the hospital.” Beebee Aight continued. “It has also been reported that six people are dead, but the officials did not disclose their identities. What comes to the presidential candidate, Kylo Ren is alive and unharmed. We will continue to keep an eye on the events and report as soon as new information comes out.” 

Then some guy named Jim begun to report on the weather, but Holdo could not concentrate. There was someone who was trying to assassinate a presidential candidate! This was unheard of. She couldn’t help but be happy that Ren was alive and well, but Rey… Rey was apparently not. This was a tragedy! Holdo immediately called her personal assistant; she needed to make a public statement. This was unacceptable. 

— — 

Snoke was staring at the television screen. Kylo Ren was alive. Hux had failed him again. How difficult could it be to get one man killed? When Snoke had first told Hux to murder Ren, the auburn man had promised to have it done in a month. It had been almost a year. It had been almost a year, and the traitor still wasn’t dead. He wasn’t even dying. He was a cockroach; infamously difficult to get rid of. 

When killing Kylo Ren had seemed too risky, Snoke had ordered an attack on his Senator ‘Sweetheart’. Never did he imagine that this would lead to the two getting married. Getting to Kenobi had become much more difficult. Getting to Ren was downright damn near impossible. The wedding reception had been their best chance in a long time. Snoke had even bothered going to the wedding ceremony to bid his adversaries farewell. 

Still, they were not dead. At least Kenobi was hurt. That made Snoke feel a tiny bit better. However, Ben Solo had gotten away without even so much as a first degree burn. 

Hux would feel his wrath. 

— — 

Her throat ached horribly. That was the first thing she knew. She felt as if someone was trying to escape from inside her skull by breaking a hole into it with a cone drill. Although she laid perfectly still, she felt as if the world were rotating three-hundred times its normal velocity. She couldn’t remember where she was, couldn’t remember who she was, could hardly remember anything. There were different types of pain in various areas of her body. She tried to get up, but suddenly she felt someone take hold of her shoulders. 

“Don’t do that.” A familiar male voice told her. “The doctors said you have to stay laying down until they get back.” 

Kylo. She remembered, opening her eyes. And indeed, it was him. He looked as if he had not slept for weeks. She was quite certain he had cried. Why had he cried? Was something wrong? Doctors? Why were there doctors? 

And then it all came back to her like the first wave of a tsunami. The screams and the fire, the ash in her mouth, and then the nothingness that followed. 

“Is everyone alright?” She was able to get the words out but only with great effort. 

Kylo did not immediately respond. Instead he looked away. “You should rest.” He said quietly. 

“Kylo…” She demanded. Rey knew now that not everything was okay. “Is everyone alright?” 

Again, she was met with silence. “There were…” Kylo begun “some who didn’t make it.” 

That felt like a punch in Rey’s gut. People had died at their wedding reception. In a fire. “Is Leia alright? What about Luke?” 

“Mom and Luke are both alive and somewhat well.” Kylo said, his voice tense and quiet. “But… my father didn’t make it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really not good at writing fluffy stuff... or wedding stuff...


	21. Show Must Go On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Work was overwhelming for Rey, and once again she felt as if she were unable to get anything done. Jessika had taken over almost everything. Rey was so happy that she had the younger woman by her side. She did not know if she could have done this without her. After work, Rey always attempted to visit Leia who had moved in with Luke after Han’s passing. Leia was a trooper, Rey had to give her that; she was pushing through although it was clear that the grief was crushing her. Rey did not know wether or not she could have been as collected as Leia was had she been in the same situation. Even the thought of losing Kylo was unbearable to Rey.

The world felt just a little bit emptier. Leia had stopped smiling, Luke was more reserved than usual, Rey was drowning in her work, and Kylo was preoccupying himself with his campaign. He could not stop working. He was skipping meals and missing sleep. Whenever he stopped, he could not stop thinking about how his father had died. Han was gone. So Kylo could not stop working. He became afraid of his own thoughts and did not want to be left alone with them. He had always loved silence before, but now it felt crushing. Being alone felt overwhelming. Kylo could only imagine what his mother was going through. Kylo never took breaks anymore. He worked until he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer, at which point he crawled into bed. 

Kylo never had dreams which was a blessing when you think about it. Rey had started having terrible nightmares. She had tried to keep it a secret at first, but there is only so much she could do. She would wake up at night crying and shaking. Her dream was always the same. It was always the ballroom on fire. She didn’t want to bother Kylo with it, but more often than not, he would notice. He would wake up and hold her in his arms until they both fell asleep again. It was exhausting. Rey had started dreading going to sleep, and so she also skipped it whenever she felt like she could. 

Work was overwhelming for Rey, and once again she felt as if she were unable to get anything done. Jessika had taken over almost everything. Rey was so happy that she had the younger woman by her side. She did not know if she could have done this without her. After work, Rey always attempted to visit Leia who had moved in with Luke after Han’s passing. Leia was a trooper, Rey had to give her that; she was pushing through although it was clear that the grief was crushing her. Rey did not know wether or not she could have been as collected as Leia was had she been in the same situation. Even the thought of losing Kylo was unbearable to Rey. 

The funeral had been one of the worst experiences in Rey’s life. They had been in the same church in which Rey and Kylo had gotten married, but everything had been different. There was no joy. Leia had attempted to keep the atmosphere light, but no one could deny the pain which had undermined any flicker of happiness. The worst thing was that Leia knew Han would have hated his own funeral. He wouldn’t have approved of the somber overall feel of the occasion. He wouldn’t have been happy that it was raining. He wouldn’t have wished for Leia to cry but she simply couldn’t hold back her tears. He wouldn’t have liked any of it. Han would have wanted a joyous farewell, a promise that he would not be forgotten but that his passing did not mean the end of the world for those he loved. 

As they had stood around Han’s grave, Leia had squeezed Kylo’s hand so tightly that it would have made him cry had his tears not been falling already. 

— — 

Poe Dameron was beginning to fear for Kylo’s life and sanity. It was not healthy for a human to work this much. Fall was approaching very fast and so was the election, but still this kind of obsessive working was definitely more than a little unnecessary. Weekends had been invented for a reason. But then again, Poe thought, he could not blame his employer for grieving over Han in this way. People dealt with sorrow and pain differently. They had never talked about it, but Poe had worked with Kylo long enough to know what he was like when he was hurting. The last time he had been this compulsive in his behaviour was when he had had his fallout with Rey years ago. 

On this particular day, Kylo was looking even worse than the day before. Poe furrowed his brows ever so slightly. 

“Kylo.” He said. “Take the rest of the day off.” 

“I can’t; this has to be done by the end of today.” Kylo answered, referring to the stack of papers which were placed neatly next to him on the table. 

Poe couldn’t stop his left brow from rising up. “Those are not needed done until the end of next week. And it’s Tuesday today.” He took a few steps towards Kylo. “You didn’t take the weekend off, you didn’t take even a day off last week.” 

“Running for president isn’t easy, Dameron.” The taller man snapped. “Fuck off, will you? I am trying to concentrate.” 

Usually Poe would not have pressured Kylo on this but this time it was different. “I know you’re stressed, but you should really go visit your mother. She just lost her husband and you have been working non-stop since the funeral. And what about Rey? Is she still having the nightmares? She should go see a psychiatrist, Kylo. Have you even thought about that?” 

“Yes!” Kylo growled and jumped up from the desk. “Yes, I have!” His voice was gravelly. The fury in his eyes was almost enough to knock Poe off his feet. But it was not quite enough, and quickly Poe regained his posture. He simply stood there, staring at Kylo who was reminding him of a wounded grisly bear. Poe stood still, afraid that even the slightest movement could trigger Kylo. 

As quickly as the anger had risen in Kylo, it dissipated. It left behind an emptiness. He was frustrated. Not so much with Dameron as with himself. He knew he had gone back into his shell when Han Solo died. In a way he felt responsible for what had happened. Kylo should have know, he should have known, and he should have known the second he saw Snoke walk up those steps. But he had not realized something horrible was bound to happen, and now he was here, standing in his office, raging at Poe who was simply trying to do the right thing. 

“Go home, Kylo.” Poe said, sounding almost tired. “And say hello to Rey for me.” 

— — 

When Rey finally got home, she was ready to tear her eyes out in frustration. What use was it sitting at endless senate hearings and bipartisan caucus meetings when the Republicans could simply block everything that Rey and her fellow Democrats were trying to push through? Not to even mention The House of Representatives! Did those warmongering constitutionfuckers do anything else with their lives other than sitting in a fancy chair while planning the fall of American democracy? Yes. Yes, they did. They were currently planning a bill for raising revenue. 

To put it lightly, Senator Rey Kenobi was slightly vexed by the recent decisions of the United States Congress. It turned out that her disgruntlement was unmistakably apparent as Kylo walked to her. She was taking her shoes off. Kylo furrowed his brows. He could feel Rey’s annoyance radiating off of her in pulsating hot waves which travelled through the air, metaphorically speaking. 

“What’s wrong, Sweetheart?” He asked, genuinely worried. 

“Nothing.” Rey replied but her voice told a different story. 

“C’mon, tell me.” Kylo begged. It was uncommon for Rey to be this mad over something or this angry at someone. Unless that someone was him, of course, and he couldn’t for the life of him recall doing something, as of late, that would warrant such a response from her. 

Rey put her shoes on the rack. “Nothing. I am absolutely fine.” She said, walking past Kylo and into the kitchen. She quickly located the bottle of bourbon she had purchased the week before. 

Kylo followed her to the kitchen but stayed at the door. He looked at Rey as she dragged a chair from underneath the table and climbed onto it in order to reach the bottle on the topmost shelf. It wasn’t exactly usual. Rey did love to drink from time to time, but this time it seemed like she didn’t even wish to bother with a glass. She simply took the bottle from the shelf, jumped back to the floor, opened the bottle, and walked through another door into the living room area. 

What on Earth was making her behave this way? Kylo wondered as he followed his wife into the living room. It was clear she was unhappy. 

“Rey.” 

“What?” 

“Talk to me.” 

“No.” 

“Please?” 

“I just… don’t want to talk about it.” Rey did her best to not take her anger out on Kylo, but he wasn’t exactly making it easy. It wasn’t so much that he was asking her what was wrong as it was that he didn’t just let her be alone. “I’m fine.” 

Kylo sighed, but didn’t say anything. He simply stood there, staring at Rey, still clueless as to what was wrong. He would never understand her. He would never understand women. Was this what it was going to be like? It didn’t matter how much he loved Rey, he simply could not read her mind. He couldn’t understand what was wrong when she did not tell him. But it seemed highly unlikely that she would tell, and so he simply decided to leave her with the bottle and instead head upstairs and go to sleep. He would ask again in the morning. 

— — 

Galen Erso sat across the table from Kylo Ren and Poe Dameron. They had been discussing the final stages of Kylo’s campaign. They still had time to visit and rally in most of the important swing states. They had time to convince more voters. There still was time. Galen didn’t know wether he was happy about it or not. Yes, of course, it was a good thing they had time left, however that also meant that Holdo had time. Galen had never been a huge fan of Holdo. When she had taken office, he had been furious. When the chance came to vote for Snoke and get Holdo out of the Oval Office, Galen had not hesitated. Later he wished he had, but that was not the point. The point was that Holdo was unqualified to be president. She had been unqualified the first time around, and her mediocre presidency had simply illustrated how unfit she was for the position. 

Kylo, on the other hand, he was qualified. Galen smiled a little to himself as he raised a glass of water to his lips. He had always been very fond of Kylo Ren, although he had to admit that he had been sceptical before he had gotten to know the younger man’s policies. It had been a smart decision Kylo had made when he had let go of his family name. Solo carried to much …democratic stigma. People would have simply viewed him as his mother’s puppet had he been Ben Solo. And Galen knew Kylo knew that. Perhaps that was why he had changed the name. Or perhaps it was the sour relationship Ren had had with his father until a very short time before his passing. Han Solo had been a good man, Galen knew, but he hadn’t been that great of a father. Yet it was good that Kylo and Han had been able to come to a mutual understanding before the unfortunate incident. 

“The chances you’ll lose are quite low.” Dameron reminded Kylo. 

“I know.” Kylo said. “However it seems that misfortune follows me around.” 

Galen couldn’t help but agree with the man in black.

**Author's Note:**

> Please, let me know what you think about this fic. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. But yeah, I'm in dire need of feedback and would love to hear from you. Yes, you. You specifically. 
> 
> XOXO


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